New Delhi, Nov. 19 -- The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered an overhaul of long-delayed state bar council elections across the country, making it mandatory for all councils to complete polls in five phases ending April 30, and ruling that only those lawyers who have applied for verification of their law degrees will be eligible to vote.

In a significant intervention to clean up electoral delays and persistent concerns over fake degrees, a bench led by Chief Justice of India-designate Justice Surya Kant placed the entire exercise under the watch of high-powered committees headed by retired judges, with a national appellate panel whose decisions cannot be challenged before any high court.

The bench, also comprising justices Ujjal Bhuyan an...