Patna: The election for the Bihar State Bar Council will be held on Tuesday.

The nominations to fill 25 members of the State Bar Council were filed between February 12 and 17, 2018, while polling for 25 members of the council will be held on March 27 between 9am and 5pm.

Additional advocate-general S. Raza Ahmad, a senior advocate of Patna High Court, has been appointed as the returning officer to conduct the polls, a top official of the council said.

Around 60,000 advocates from across the state will elect a 25-member council and later the chairman and vice-chairman of the State Bar Council will be elected by these 25 members.

On August 23, 2017, the Supreme Court had directed the Bar Council of India to fix the schedule. The apex court had directed the Bar Council of India and State Bar Councils to hold elections by the end of December 31, 2017.

The Bar Council of India, however, pressed for verification of candidates to eliminate fake lawyers to bring improvement in the Bar and to get deserving practicing advocates for the respective bar councils. It said the verification process is yet to be completed, which delayed the election.

Finally, the Supreme Court had directed the Bar Council of India to hold elections by the end of March 31.

This year, 243 candidates are in the fray.

This time, the prime issues in the election were the welfare and security of the lawyers throughout the state.

There are no pension or medical benefits for the lawyers in the state, said criminal advocate Dinesh Kumar, adding that the contesting candidates have made this issue a focal point in their campaigning pledging to take the up the matter with the central government and the Bar Council of India.

Meanwhile, apart from the chairman and the vice-chairman of the council, the third prominent post to be filled by the elected members will be the representative of Bihar in the Bar Council of India.

This year, 10 female candidates are also in the fray which has made the election an interesting one. For the first time, the number of women in the fray is quite high, said Dinesh.