Candidates announced for SCBA polls

Candidates for SCBA seats battle it out...by hosting dinners and tea parties?

LAHORE: Fifty five candidates are in the running for 21 seats in the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) elections to be held on October 27.

The biggest seat is that of SCBA president, for which Ahmad Awais, Asma Jahangir and Muhammad Ikram Chaudhry are candidates, according to the final list of candidates issued by Chaudhry Afrasiab Khan, the returning officer for the elections.

All three presidential candidates are canvassing for the election by hosting dinners, tea parties and corner meetings and visiting the chambers of voter members in groups.

Sanaullah Khan Zahid stands elected unopposed as finance secretary of the SCBA.

Four candidates are vying for the seat of secretary. They are Muhammad Sohail Dar, Munsif Malik Awan, Qamar Zaman Qureshi and Rana Farman Ali Sabir.

Twelve candidates are competing for the four vice presidential slots, one for each province. They are Jahanzaib Khan Jadoon and Mohammad Mohsin Javed from Balochistan; Malik Manzoor Hussain and Muhammad Arif Khan from Khyber Pakhtunkhawa; A Hameed Talib Rana, Abdul Sadiq Chaudhry, Malik Muhammad Imtiaz Mahl and Zubair Khalid from Punjab; and KA Wahab, Shafaat Hussain, Shamsuddin Khalid Ahmed Ansari and Syed Jamil Ahmed from Sindh. M Saliheen Moghal and Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta are running for the post of additional secretary.

The executive body of the SCBA has a total of 14 members, including the six members who secure the most votes and two members from each province.

Abdullah Kakar, Abdur Rasheed Awan, Iqbal Shah, Jaffar Raza Khan, Malik Azmatullah Khan Kasi, Muhammad Hassan Bilal, Syed Akhtar Muhammad and Taj Mohammad Mengal are running for the executive body from Balochistan.

Khan Afzal Khan, Muhammad Habib Qureshi, Noor Alam Khan and Tanveer Ahmed are standing from Khyber Pakhtunkhawa.

Thirteen candidates for the executive body are contesting from Punjab. They are Chaudhry Mohammad Ikram Zahid, Dr CM Afzal Javaid, Hamid Shabbir Azar, Khalid Mahmood Sheikh, Mian Muhammad Javaid, Mohammad Aslam Ghuman, Muhammad Saad Shibli, Muhammad Sulaman Bhatti, Muhammad Yunus Khan Naul, Nadeem Siddiqui, Rafaqat Ali Kahloon, Tabindah Islam and Waseem Mumtaz Malik.

Nine candidates are standing from Sindh: Abbas Ali, Ghulam Shabbeer Shar, Haji Shafi Muhammad Chandio, Jameel Ahmed Virk, Muhammad Ishaque Saathi alias Sathi M Ishaque, Sardar Akbar Ujjan, Sardar M Ajaz Khan, Shakeel Ahmed and Zia Ahmed Awan.

Wednesday (today) is the last date that the returning officer will hear appeals against the acceptance and rejection of nomination papers of candidates. No such appeal has been filed so far, said an administration officer of the SCBA.

If filed, appeals will be heard and decided on October 22. Candidates may withdraw before October 25. The elections will be held and votes counted on October 27. The official count will be notified on October 30.

The SCBA has 2,130 voter members: 107 from Balochistan, 179 from Peshawar, 62 from Bahawalpur, 311 from Islamabad, 1,029 from Lahore, 116 from Multan and 326 from Sindh.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 20^th, 2010.