Senior advocate Pradeep Rai was on Tuesday elected as the new president of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA).
There were five other contenders including senior advocate Siddharth Mridul, who returned to practice after superannuating as chief justice of Manipur high court. The results, announced late Tuesday night, saw Rai secure 822 votes with senior advocate Anupam Lal Dass getting 451 votes. Mridul secured 217 votes, while others included senior advocate Adish Agarwalla who got 412 votes, followed by senior advocate and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia (370), senior advocate Sukumar Pattjoshi (269) and senior advocate Mahalakshmi Pavani (128). He also promised medical security cover of up to ₹ 50 lakh and merit-based scholarship for children of SCBA members that earned him popular support.
Rai had earlier served as vice president SCBA and had voiced his commitment to promote welfare measures for advocates in his presidential proclamation ahead of the elections.
