Vinod Tiwari, a candidate contesting the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa elections, has demanded polling booths in every JMFC court in
the rural parts of Vidarbha and Marathwada for larger participation by voters.
The polls for the apex lawyers body are scheduled to be held on January 7 for 25 seats. Many advocates including district government pleader A Qureshi, Kirti Nipankar, Parijat Pande, and Surendra Gadling are in the fray along with Tiwari. Presently, Aniruddha Chaube, RL Khapre and Suman Chokhare are the sitting members of the council, with the first two having occupied the top post of chairman earlier.
Tiwari and 11 others are contesting the election from the city. He has justified his demand since lawyers from rural areas will need to travel 25 to 200km in some cases to cast their vote. He cited the example of Sironcha in Gadchiroli, which is 180km away from the city and lawyers in that town are required to travel all the way there. Tiwari pointed out that since January 7 is also a working day, voters may not turn up at distant polling booths. He claimed that booths in Mumbai, Pune and Nashik urban centres have been increased to facilitate urban voters, so something must be done for rural voters too.