As many as 75 candidates are contesting for 23 seats in the election to the West Bengal Bar Council, which began on Monday. Lawyers backed by various political parties are also in the fray — 23 candidates backed by the ruling Trinamool Congress, 22 backed by the BJP, and 12 backed by Left parties, while 18 independent lawyer candidates are also contesting.

Voting began on Monday morning in courts across the state, including the Calcutta High Court. The polling will continue for two days — Monday and Tuesday. Voting started at 10 am and will continue till 5 pm on both days.

Among the candidates are Trinamool MLA Ashok Deb, former MP Subhashis Chakraborty, and Kolkata Municipal Corporation Member Mayor in Council Baiswanor Chatterjee. Deb, the MLA from Budge Budge, has previously served as the council chairman.

The West Bengal Bar Council has 25 seats, but elections are being held this time for 23 seats. Of these, 18 seats are being contested by men and five by women. In addition, following a Supreme Court directive, the Bar Council of India will nominate two more women members from among the female candidates after the results are declared. These two seats will remain reserved for women.

At the Calcutta High Court, three polling booths have been set up for voting. More than 10,000 lawyers are expected to cast their votes. Polling is also underway in district courts across the state.

As voting is being conducted simultaneously across West Bengal’s courts, counting and the declaration of results may take some time. In the previous Bar Council election, the results were announced nearly three months later.

This year’s election to the West Bengal Bar Council has also seen some controversy. A case was filed in the Calcutta High Court alleging that names of close to 18,000 lawyers were missing from the draft list, including that of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and state cabinet Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya. The list was later corrected.