Bar assn prez poll: Charges over ballot papers halt results

Vadodara: The results for the election to the post of president of the Baroda Bar Association (BBA) were not announced despite completion of the polling process getting over on Friday owing to serious allegations made by a candidate.
The election was a prestige battle between sitting BBA president Nalin Patel and former president of the association, Hasmukh Bhatt. At the end of counting on Friday, Patel had an edge but thing went haywire after it came to light that the total number of votes cast did not tally with those counted.
In a formal application to the BBA election commissioner and senior advocate Dwarkesh Haribhakti, Bhatt stated that against the 2,423 votes polled on ballot papers, only 2,397 were counted. Bhatt even questioned the fairness of the election process and alleged that an advocate assigned the duty of a polling officer was canvassing inside the polling booth.
In wake of the application, Haribhakti decided that the results of the election will be declared after the verification of ballot papers. Bhatt also submitted another application demanding that the details of the number of ballots printed, used and those remaining unused should be declared.