The Supreme Court on Thursday granted liberty to parties in the Bar Council of Delhi (BCD) election dispute to seek appropriate interim relief before the Delhi High Court regarding resumption of vote counting, while requesting that the matter be listed preferably on Monday.

This liberty was granted after the Supreme Court had earlier, on May 18, directed that further counting of ballot papers be kept in abeyance following allegations of tampering in the BCD elections and transferred the matter to the Delhi High Court for day-to-day hearing before a Special Bench.

During today’s mentioning before the Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul M Pancholi, Senior advocate Vikas Singh submitted that they were not seeking declaration of results at this stage but only continuation of counting, pointing out that ballot papers were lying open and substantial expenses had already been incurred in the election process.

The Bench clarified that parties would be at liberty to seek appropriate interim directions before the Delhi High Court and observed that the High Court could independently consider requests relating to counting without being influenced by the Supreme Court’s earlier order.

The Court accordingly requested the Delhi High Court to urgently list the matter before an appropriate bench, preferably on Monday, and consider the interim issues relating to counting of votes.