Tarar, Raja to contest PBC poll

ISLAMABAD:

After the passage of the 26th and 27th constitutional amendments, the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) election, scheduled for December 13, is viewed as crucial as both Professional and Independent groups have been making claims to get a majority in the apex regularity body of lawyers for the next five years.

The members of the provincial and Islamabad Bar Councils, who are voters in this election, will elect 23 members of the Pakistan Bar Council, from their respective provinces and ICT.

The significance of the election can be assessed from the fact that Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) General Secretary Salman Akram Raja are contesting the election.

Majority of the PBC members nominate their representative for the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) — a constitutional body of judges appointment.

Independent Group, which is known as pro-government group, has remained in majority in the PBC since 2010. The group members are still claiming that they will get majority in the upcoming election.

On the other hand, Professional group, which is pro PTI and strong critic of two constitutional amendments is confident that they will secure majority in total 23 PBC members.

A total of 59 candidates have submitted their nomination papers for the election of members of the Pakistan Bar Council from across the country.

Five candidates have filed their nomination papers for the single seat of membership of the Pakistan Bar Council from the province of Balochistan,

Eleven candidates have filed papers for four seats reserved for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 27 candidates for eleven seats allocated for Punjab and 14 candidates for six seats reserved for Sindh whereas two candidates for one seat reserved for ICT.

The members of Independent Group are claiming that they will secure eight seats of Punjab, three in K-P, three in Sindh and one in ICT.

On the other hand, the members of Professional group are quite confident that they will be able to win five seats in Punjab, two in K-P, three in Sindh and one in Balochistan.

One member belonged to Professional Group even revealed that the group is working to get five seats in Punjab, four seats in Sindh, stating that they are doing extra effort to secure seat from ICT.

It is learnt that Independent Group members are getting majority support from PBC members who belonged to south Punjab, Sargodha and Faisalabad while Professional Group is claiming the support of majority members who belonged to Lahore and Guranwala and Rawalpindi divisions.

In Balochistan, the contesting candidates are Munir Ahmad Khan Kakar, Rehmatullah Barech, Jameel Ahmed Khan, Amanullah Kanrani and Muhammad Rauf Atta.

Munir Kakar is favorite candidate among them.

In K-P, the contesting candidates are Syed Amjad Shah, Noor Alam Khan, Qazi Muhammad Arshad, Khush Dil Khan, Rehmanullah ,Atlas Khan, Malik Akhtar Hussain Awan, Abdul Sattar Khan, Qazi Muhammad Anwar, Naveed Akhtar and Kausar Ali Shah.

It is learnt the ANP legal wing will easily be able to get two seats in the province. It will be interesting as how the PTI-backed Professional Group will get three seats in K-P.

One member says that the group has an advantage as the PTI is ruling the province. He admitted that the group could not get majority seats in KP bar council election.

In Punjab, Muhammad Ahsan Bhoon, Azam Nazeer Tarar, Syed Qalb-i-Hassan, Ch. Tahir Nasrullah Warraich, Saqib Akram Gondal, Hafeez-ur-Rehman Chaudhry, Pir Muhammad Masood Chishti, Muhammad Maqsood Buttar, Amir Saeed Rawn, Pervaiz Inayat Malik, Asif Mehmood Cheema , Zulfiqar Ali , Mahmood Ashraf Khan, Muhammad Ilyas Sheikh, Sh. Ahsan ud Din, Mian Abdul Qaddous, Muhammad Asad Manzoor Butt, Salman Akram Raja, Mushtaq Ahmad Mohal, Ch. Zulfiqar Ali, Ch. Ishtiaq Ahmad Khan, Ahmad Awais , Shafqat Mehmood Chohan , Rana Zia Abdul Rehman, Khadim Hussain Qaiser, Malik Ghulam Mustafa Kandwal, Zafar Mahmood Mughal.

In Sindh, Salahuddin Ahmed, Muhammad Lutfullah Arain , Munir Ahmed Malik, Shahab Sarki, Muhammad Nadeem Qureshi, Abid Shahid Zuberi , Rana Muhammad Shamim, Ubedullah Malano, Fazal Qadir Memon, Farooq Hamid Naek, Hameedullah Dahri, Muzaffar Ali Laghari , Abdul Jabbar Qureshi and Muhammad Saleem Mangrio.

In ICT, Raja Rizwan Abbasi and Syed Qamar Hussain Shah Sabzwari are in the run.

The scrutiny of Letters of Proposals (Nomination Papers) will be held in office of the Returning Officer, Islamabad on Tuesday, the 2nd December, 2025 at 10:00am. The polling will take place on Saturday, the 13th December, 2025, at all the four Provincial capitals and ICT in Advocate General Offices.