One lakh lawyers eligible to vote in Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry elections this year

The number of lawyers eligible to vote in the upcoming elections to Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry (BCTNP), being held on March 30 after seven years, has increased to 1,00,539. In the 2018 elections, 37,474 out of around 50,000 eligible lawyers had voted.

A Supreme Court-constituted High Powered Election Committee (HPEC) comprising Himachal Pradesh High Court former Chief Justice Rajiv Shakdher, senior counsel E. Omprakash and advocate Amit George has also found 18,515 lawyers had got enrolled with the BCTNP in the last three years.

These 18,515 lawyers had cleared the All India Bar Examination (AIBE), conducted by the Bar Council of India (BCI), but they had not become members of any of the advocates/bar associations affiliated with BCTNP. Nevertheless, they had expressed their desire to vote for the BCTNP elections at different associations of their choice.

The Supreme Court had appointed the HPEC on November 11, 2025, for the purpose of conducting elections to the BTCNP and the committee, after extensive groundwork, appointed Madras High Court former judge K.N. Basha as the Returning Officer and issued the election notification on January 31, 2026.

Since the Supreme Court had ordered 30% reservation for women lawyers, it was decided that seven out of the 25 members of BCTNP should be women. It was further decided to conduct election for 23 members, including five women, and to co-opt two more women lawyers from the BCI.

The HPEC also decided to establish 168 polling booths across Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and released the booth wise final voters list on February 28, 2026. The Madras High Court campus would serve as the largest polling booth where a huge number of 28,180 lawyers were expected to cast their votes.

Apart from this, polling booths would be established at Egmore, Saidapet and George Town court campuses as well in Chennai. Madurai would have the second highest number of voters with 9,294 lawyers having been found eligible to vote from seven different polling booths spread across the district.

In Coimbatore district 5,244 lawyers have been found eligible to vote from four polling booths located in Coimbatore city, Pollachi, Mettupalayam and Valparai. In Tiruchi district 3,431 lawyers had found place in the final voters list for exercising their franchise from Lalgudi, Manapparai, Musiri, Thuraiyur and Tiruchi city.

As far as the Union Territory of Puducherry was concerned, only 1,683 lawyers would be eligible to vote at the Bar associations in Puducherry and Karaikal. The HPEC had also notified a code of conduct which prohibits the contesting candidates from using the law students to canvass for votes.

“Candidates found distributing money or offering allurements in any form (including arranging parties) to garner the votes or found using other objectionable means to procure votes will be disqualified, albeit in accordance with the law,” the code of conduct notified on February 28, 2026 reads.

It also states: “Candidates shall not allude to any political or religious affiliations or refer to their caste or community. Candidates shall ensure that they do not advert to their political or religious affiliations or caste or community in print and electronic media and/or social media platform(s).”

Further, “activities such as sloganeering, processions, bursting crackers, distribution of sweets, edibles, the use of loudspeakers, banners and causing hindrances in ingress and egress to the Bar Council office are strictly prohibited. Any infraction shall be viewed seriously, and appropriate action will be taken, as per the law,” the notification reads.

Filing of nominations began on March 1, 2026 and ended on March 7, 2026. During the period, the Returning Officer had received 151 nominations which would be taken up for scrunity on March 10, 2026 before publishing the final list of candidates on the same day. The results of the election would be declared on April 3, 2026.

Published – March 08, 2026 06:48 pm IST