The Ballot and the Burden: Reflections on the Eve of the Bar Council Election
Tomorrow, as the Bar Council of Kerala goes to the polls, I find myself wrestling with a familiar professional delimma—not one of statutes, but of choice. In our preferential system, we have the power to cast 25 preference votes, yet every candidate is chasing that elusive "First Preference." For a voter, this creates a significant burden of accommodation. How do you rank your favorites when the list is long and the stakes for our profession are so high? This year, my own priority list has undergone an unexpected revision. I’ll be candid: Mr. Yeshwanth Shenoy did not originally find a place in my top preferences. Our history is well-known to those in the High Court; when he ran for President of the Kerala High Court Advocates’ Association, for the third time, I was perhaps his deepest critic. He lost that election, but I do not believe he was a meritless candidate; it was simply a case of a more meritorious candidate winning the day. However, when it comes to the Bar Council,...