Haryana advocates sandwiched between bar council, MC polls

The Punjab and Haryana Bar Council elections scheduled for June 1 and municipal corporation elections for June 2 have left more than 5,000 advocates of Haryana in a tizzy.

The Punjab and Haryana Bar Council elections scheduled for June 1 and municipal corporation elections for June 2 have left more than 5,000 advocates of Haryana in a tizzy.

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With the custom of inking a voter's finger, the advocates fear of being deprived of exercising their franchise in either of the two.

Several lawyers, candidates as well as voters, HT talked to, held that since their finger would be inked on June 1 while voting for the bar council in Haryana, they might be denied their right to vote in the municipal corporation polls being held in seven municipal corporations - Ambala, Panchkula, Karnal, Panipat, Hisar, Rohtak and Yamunanagar in Haryana - the next day.

“Importantly enough, if we opt to let go one of the polls, it will lead to a major difference as the margin of victory in both the polls is very thin,” said Amit Singla, a Panchkula-based lawyer.

Advocates Taranpreet Kaur and Sandeep Aggarwal, also from Panchkula, said lawyers, along with candidates, planned to take a representation to justice (retd) NK Aggarwal, returning officer for the bar council polls, to seek a way out. Several candidates held that they, too, had been apprised of the said predicament of the state's lawyers and would also urge justice Aggarwal to suggest a solution.

Possible solution
Suggesting a way out, a few candidates said application of a different-coloured ink during the bar council elections could help solve the confusion. They said it was for the first time that such a problem had cropped up because of the two elections scheduled consecutively.