The Bar Council of India (BCI) has approached the Supreme Court seeking approval for a merit-based co-option mechanism to ensure 30 per cent representation of women in state bar councils, news agency PTI reported. The apex bar body has proposed filling the 10 per cent co-option quota by selecting women candidates who secured the highest number of votes among those not elected, rather than through subjective appointments. The proposal aims to supplement the 20 per cent seats reserved for women through direct election, thereby fulfilling the total 30 per cent mandate laid down earlier by the Supreme Court. BCI Chairperson and senior advocate Manan Kumar Mishra, in a statement, said the bar body has considered the submissions made by stakeholders before the apex court-appointed High Powered Election Supervisory Committee on the co-option of women members in state bar councils. “This issue concerns not merely filling seats, but the larger institutional objective, which is ensuring that women advocates, who constitute an indispensable and distinguished part of the legal fraternity, are given their rightful place in the …