Showing Category Count on Html Links

Showing Category Count on Html Links

I have html links on my wordpress website sidebar and I would like to show
the number of posts related to that link.
The posts are placed under custom listing category defined by the
following function:
Php:
function va_cat_menu_drop_down( $location = 'menu', $taxonomy ) {
global $va_options;
$key = 'categories_' . $location;
$options = $va_options->$key;
$args['menu_cols'] = ( $location == 'menu' ? 3 : 2 );
$args['menu_depth'] = $options['depth'];
$args['menu_sub_num'] = $options['sub_num'];
$args['cat_parent_count'] = $options['count'];
$args['cat_child_count'] = $options['count'];
$args['cat_hide_empty'] = $options['hide_empty'];
$args['cat_nocatstext'] = true;
$args['cat_order'] = 'ASC';
$args['taxonomy'] = $taxonomy;
$terms_args['pad_counts'] = false;
$terms_args['app_pad_counts'] = true;
return va_categories_list($args, $terms_args);
}
How can I show that number of posts in a particular category next to my
Html link as the following does not work (I guess as the listing category
is probably custom taxonomy?)