68 candidates to fight for 17 seats in DBA polls

Nagpur: The District Bar Association (DBA) polls will witness the toughest ever fight, with as many as 68 candidates vying for just 17 seats. The highest number of 28 candidates will fight it out for nine seats of executive committee members, followed by 11 for two posts of vice-presidents, and nine for two posts of joint secretary.

The poll panel under veteran lawyer KB Ambilwade and members Shailesh Gadhia, Abdul Bashir and PK Mishra has been keeping strict vigil over entire campaigning process, which would continue till counting day on Saturday. They conducted a meeting on Monday with all contestants for various posts, and explained the poll process, and rules and regulations to be followed.

“Till the last polls, campaigning used to end 48 hours before the poll date. This year, we’ve decided to allow it till 12 hours of the actual date. Our team comprising 25 members would keep a strict watch on polling and counting process, and prevent any wrongdoings,” Ambilwade told TOI.

The poll panel also decided to exempt veteran lawyers from standing in queue, and they would be directly provided ballot papers. Even senior counsels designated by Bombay high court would be extended similar benefits. The elections would be conducted on the premises of district and sessions court on Friday from 10am to 5:30pm, and the results will be declared on Saturday.

“We would be publishing seven ballot papers for various posts. It includes one for president, secretary, treasurer, library in-charge, and executive committee, and two each for vice presidents and joint secretaries. It would help us sort the papers, and in counting,” Ambilwade said.

In the last elections held on January 23, 2015, which were also held after a gap of four years, an impressive turnout of 86.03% was witnessed. Out of 2,648 registered voters with DBA, 2,278 had exercised their franchisee. This time 3,905 voters have registered for the polls which means about 1,257 more voters will cast their ballot.

(With inputs from Avinash Gupta)

POLLING & COUNTING DATES

Polling — October 26

Timing — 10am -5.30pm

Counting — October 27

Venue — District Court Building

Rooms — 204, 214, canteen (Ground floor)

Total voters — 3,905

ELECTIONS PROCESS

Ballot papers — 7

President, secretary, treasurer, library in-charge & executive committee — 1

Vice presidents & joint secretaries — 2

Campaigning to end — 12 hrs before polling date

Exempted from queues — Veterans lawyers & senior counsels

FINAL LIST OF CONTESTANTS

* PRESIDENT — Uday Dable, Manoj Sable, Kamal Satuja

* GENERAL SECRETARY — Ranjan Deshpande, Nitin Deshmukh, Sushil Kalyani, Vivek Kolte, Mangesh Moon

* VICE-PRESIDENT — Parag Bezalwar, Prabhakar Bhure, Shashank Chaubey, Manish Gupta, Vivek Karade, Sunil Lacharwar, Soumitra Pal, Vilas Raut, Vilas Selokar, Tawir Sheikh, Chhayadevi Yadav

* LIBRARY- IN-CHARGE — Kirtikumar Kadu, Sharad Panpalia, Nitesh Samundre, Vicky Tambe, Mangala Warke

* JOINT-SECRETARY — Mohd Sajjath Baig, Ashish Bhendarkar, Shailesh Jaiswal, Meenakshi Maheshwari, Sheetal Shukla, Umakant Sonkusare, Pankaj Tapase, Parag Wagh, Kailash Waghmare

* TREASURER — Nitin Gandhi, Anil Gulhane, Tarun Parmar, Sagarika Pathak

* EXECUTIVE MEMBERS — Ashwin Betharia, Dharamraj Bogati, Rohit Borwankar, Pawan Gabhane, CM Gaidhane, Devendra Galande, Rekha Godbole, Suraj Gupta, Chandrashekhar Janbandhu, Sahil Kashyap, Shabana Khan, Vinod Khobre, Mahesh Murugan, Ashish Nayak, Vaibhav Ogale, Deepali Padamgiriwar, Ramesh Patale, Imran Pathan, Priti Pimpalkar, Harshad Puranik, Saurabh Raut, Vilas Sardar, Sohel Sheikh, Parul Shendre, Hemlata Singh, Ruby Singh, Nilesh Thengre, Dhirendra Upadhyay