Lawyers’ elections: ‘No food, no votes’

High Court bar rejects ban on luncheons as counter productive.

LAHORE:

Overriding a stricture by the Election Board (EB) banning candidates in the upcoming Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) elections, from offering food to voters, the general house of the bar on Monday carried a resolution allowing the candidates to host luncheons.

Members resolved that the ban was “objectionable and dangerous.”

The 24-member EB, headed by Advocate Aurangzeb Mirza, issued a four-page document on February 10 setting out a code of conduct for the 2010-2013 elections, scheduled for February 25.

Besides other instructions for the candidates, the EB, prohibited them from hosting any luncheons for voters after February 12.

The resolution moved by Advocate Rana Ahmad Saeed over ruled the EB decision and gave a green signal to the candidates to carry out their campaigns the way they deem fit. Advocate Saeed argued that the decision could prove counterproductive. He warned that not many lawyers vote unless the ban was lifted. Saeed, who is not contesting the election, said he and many other lawyers had strong reservations about the ban.

Mirza, the EB chairman, told The Express Tribune that he was not taken on board before fixing the resolution for vote. He said the elected executive of the LHCBA had given the EB full authority to make arrangements and rules to ensure free and fair elections. He said allowing candidates to host meals for voters had damaged the image of the legal community.

“Candidates should be elected on merit and not on how much expense one did on the campaign,” he said. He said the EB planned to meet the bar leaders in this regard.

Advocate Tariq Aziz Malik told The Tribune that two months ago he had filed a resolution for a boycott of food in the lawyers’ elections, but the bar representatives did not fix it for a vote. He said he had talked to the bar secretary and the president, but they had used various tactics to put off the resolution.

Finally, he said, his resolution was fixed for debate on Monday. He said he did not join the proceedings to protest the executive’s attitude. He said lavish spending on bar elections had given way to corruption. “The candidates who win election by spending a lot of money later try to recover the money through corrupt ways,” he said.

LHCBA Secretary Arshad Awan told The Tribune that he favoured food for voters. He pointed out that not a single member in the general house meeting had opposed the resolution.

“Banning on food will make no difference. The candidates will continue to host lavish luncheons even if they do not openly do so.”

He said LHCBA presidential candidates nowadays spent around Rs15 million, of which more than Rs4 million is provided for transportation of voters, which only those successful in their profession can afford.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 14^th, 2012.