Nabarangpur: The upcoming election of the Nabarangpur Bar Association has been postponed by the Odisha Bar Council. A re-election process had begun to fill one vacant position of Joint Secretary and three Executive Member posts. However, due to allegations of irregularities in the ongoing election, senior members of the association — Samaresh Gantayat, Sanati Kumar Mishra, Ramprasad Patra, Santosh Mishra, Deviprasad Singh, Bishnu Shekhar Tripathi, Suraj Nayak, Sandeep Mishra, and Tapan Panigrahi — had lodged a formal complaint with the Central Election Committee of the State Bar Council.
Due to errors in the preparation and publication of the voter list, eight candidates had withdrawn their nomination papers. As a result, the President, Vice President, Secretary, and one Executive Member were elected unopposed. However, the positions of Joint Secretary and three Executive Members remained vacant. Some candidates had submitted nominations in violation of election rule 157(b), yet the Election Officer had accepted them and set April 18 as the date of election.
Out of 227 members of the association, 108 were excluded from the voter list. On the last day of nomination submission, the Election Officer issued a notice stating that all 227 members were eligible voters. According to the complaints, in the previous election, four members were allowed to file nominations in violation of the General Council’s decisions. These members were declared eligible and included in the voter list.
Therefore, members demanded that the entire election process be postponed, and the Bar Council has now officially issued a postponement order. Regarding this, when contacted, Election Officer C.H. Baba Yugandhar stated that the nomination papers for the vacant posts of Joint Secretary and Executive Members must have proposers and seconders from among those already elected in the first phase. However, the candidates had included proposers and seconders from the general membership, violating the rules. As a result, the Bar Council issued the postponement order, and further instructions are awaited.
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