LUCKNOW, Jan. 28 -- The third phase of voting for the Bar Council of UP elections was cancelled in Lucknow on Tuesday due to alleged mismanagement and chaos, with some advocates claiming that ballot papers, despite being sealed in envelopes, had a prior 'tick mark' before the name of a candidate. The issue came to fore when a lawyer noticed the pre-marked tick while voting around 4pm, after which the polling process was halted immediately. Subsequently, the returning officer (RO) of the election cancelled Lucknow's polling. The two-day voting for the third phase of the elections began on January 27 in districts starting with letters K up to M. These elections are being monitored by a high-powered committee constituted by the Supreme Court. The committee is chaired by former Chief Justice of Jharkhand, Justice Ravi Ranjan. As per the report of presiding officer and in pursuance of order the high powered committee, the said election of the Bar Council of UP at Lucknow stood cancelled. The reschedule for election of Lucknow district will be decided with approval of high powered committee, stated a joint notification issued by Justice Surendra Singh, observer, Bar Council of UP election 2025-26 and Justice Arvind K Tripathi, returning officer, Bar Council of UP election. In Lucknow, the high court was the polling centre for advocates registered here and the district court. Polling began at 10am and it was scheduled to continue till 5pm in 17 districts, but was stopped in Lucknow at 4pm. Paresh Mishra, a candidate in the Bar Council polls, held the election committee responsible for the chaos and mismanagement. "This is for the first time I have seen mismanagement on such a large scale in the Bar Council elections. The committee responsible for conducting the polls failed to discharge its duty," he alleged. "There was inadequate staff to conduct the polling for such a large scale election," said advocate Akhikesh Awasthi, one of the candidates contesting the election. According to officials, re-polling in Lucknow would most probably be conducted after the fourth and final phase of polling on January 30-31 in districts starting with letters P up to V. According to an official release of election officer/council secretary RK Shukla, polling on Tuesday for the third phase took place in Kannauj, Kanpur Nagar, Kasganj, Kaushambi, Kushinagar, Lakhimpur Kheri, Lalitpur, Maharajganj, Mahoba, Mainpuri, Mathura, Mau, Meerut, Mirzapur, Moradabad and Muzaffarnagar. The first phase of election was held in districts starting with the letters A, B, and C where advocates had cast their votes on January 16-17. The second phase was held on January 20-21 in districts starting with letters D up to J. After polling is over, all ballot boxes will be sent to Prayagraj by February 3 and the counting of votes will be done on a date to be decided later....