The preliminary count for the Maharashtra & Goa Bar Council election has completed with five clear front-runner candidates, although one in ten ballot papers have been invalidated amid a last-minute Supreme Court order.

ALMT Legal partner Hitesh Jain has fallen short of his target after tentatively winning around 199 first preference votes in the preliminary counting rounds in the first five districts out of 37 in the Maharashtra & Goa Bar Council elections, with four other candidate building a potentially strong lead of first preference votes.