Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal has entered the contest for the post of President, Supreme Court Bar Association by filing his nomination for the elections scheduled on May 16. He will contest against Senior Advocate Pradeep Rai, who was Vice-President, SCBA for 2021-22 and 2022-2023.

Sibal returns to the SCBA electoral arena after over 20 years since he held the president’s post last. Sibal had held the post thrice between 1995 and 2002. Kapil Sibal, who served as the Additional Solicitor General of India during 1989–90, joined the bar in 1972 and was designated a Senior Advocate in 1983.

Sibal became an MP for the Congress from Chandni Chowk in Delhi in 2004 and entered the Manmohan Singh Cabinet and continued to serve in both UPA governments.

Senior Advocate Pradeep Rai has over 25 years of standing at the Bar in the Supreme Court of India, various High Courts, Commissions, Regulatory Bodies and Tribunals. He has litigation experience across a wide spectrum of civil, criminal, revenue and constitutional issues. During his two terms as Vice-President, SCBA, Rai founded various sub-committees of the Supreme Court Bar Association, including Grievance Committee, E-Committee, Health Committee, Bar Coordination Committee, Culture Committee and State Sub-Committee.

Senior Advocate Rai launched several schemes in the interest of the Bar including discounted travel scheme, affordable housing scheme, free medical facilities, academic-professional excellence and training programmes and free FastTag scheme for members of the Bar.

Incumbent SCBA President Senior Advocate Adish Aggarwala is standing for re-election. Apart from Sibal, Rai and Aggarwala, Senior Advocate Priya Hingorani and Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave are also in the fray.

The SCBA elections will be held on May 16 from 10 am to 5 pm. Voters will choose the President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer. The last date for filing nomination is May 9. As per an SCBA circular, a draft of the list of candidates will be displayed on the notice board and on SCBA’s website on May 10.

The final list of nominations will be displayed on the SCBA notice board and its website on May 12. Following this, a debate will be held in the Supreme Court lawns between the candidates for the posts of President and Hony Secretary. Votes will be counted on May 18, Saturday.

The Bengaluru Police have called BJP President JP Nadda and the party’s IT Cell chief Amit Malviya, in response to a objectionable post published by the party’s Karnataka branch. The Highgrounds Police Investigating Officer in Bengaluru sent a notice to the leaders on Wednesday.

In relation to the video, JP Nadda and Amit Malviya have been granted a week to appear before the Bengaluru Police.

Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara claimed the social media post amounted to assaulting specific laws against communal divisions when questioned about the police summons given to the BJP officials.

Once they (Nadda and Malviya) come and give a statement or justify their statement, we will see what needs to be taken, he said.

This comes a day after the Election Commission ordered the microblogging platform X to remove the tweet uploaded by the BJP’s Karnataka branch as soon as possible.

The letter by poll panel read that they are instructed to notify them that the post titled BJP4Karnataka violates the current legal framework. Regarding the situation, a FIR has already been filed. This further brings to your attention that on May 5, 2024, X was given a directive by the Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka, via the Cyber Crime Division in Bengaluru, to remove the offensive message. However, the post has not been removed yet, the statement added.

Earlier, a police complaint was filed against them and BJP Karnataka unit president BY Vijayendra for sharing a video on social media that appeared to show the Congress giving preference to Muslims in matters of reservation.

The Karnataka BJP released a video in which state Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Congressman Rahul Gandhi are shown giving Muslims more money than they are giving to SCs, STs, and OBCs.

Meanwhile, voting in Karnataka completed yesterday, in the fourth phase of polling. The results of the election will be announced on June 4.

Indian Overseas Congress Chairman, Sam Pitroda, has sparked a controversy with his statement in which he said that people in the South India look like Africans, those in the East resemble Chinese, and those in the West resemble Arabs. The BJP has slammed Pitroda over his controversial remarks.

Assam Chief Minister and BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma slammed Pitroda for his controversial remarks and said he is from the North East and he looks like an Indian. He added that India is a diverse country where everyone may look different but everybody is one.  He advised the Congress leader to understand a little about India.

BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla also criticized Sam Pitroda and said that these were racist comments by a man who is the guru of Rahul Gandhi.  He said it is the words and thinking of Rahul Gandhi only because these days Rahul is also playing the politics of divide and rule to such an extent that first they divide on caste and language lines and now they are doing Indians Vs Indians.

Poonawalla further added that to make comments like Indians are like Chinese shows Pitroda’s racist mindset which is insulting to the very idea of India. The BJP spokesperson said such racist comments by the Congress leader show that Congress’ Mohabbat ki dukaan actually has Nafrat ka saaman. He said that unless Congress gives a complete explanation and sacks Sam Pitroda, such controversial remarks should be taken as the statement of the Congress.

BJPs Mandi Lok Sabha seat candidate Kangana Ranaut slammed the Congress leader for his racist remarks and said, Sam Pitroda is Rahul Gandhi’s mentor. She said everyone should listen to his racist & divisive jibes for Indians. She said Congress’s ideology is about divide & rule. She said it is sickening to call fellow Indians Chinese and African and the Congress should be ashamed of leaders like Sam Pitroda.