District bar: Lawyers vote to elect new leaders

Former Supreme Court Bar Association presidents Asma Jahangir and Hamid Khan were among the voters.

LAHORE:

Thousands of lawyers thronged to sessions court complex on Monday to cast their votes in the Lahore Bar Association (LBA) elections for the term 2014-15.

Former Supreme Court Bar Association presidents Asma Jahangir and Hamid Khan, for Lahore High Court chief justice Khawaja Sharif, Dr Fareed Piracha, Senator Kazim Ali Khan and Lahore High Court Bar Association President Abid Saqi were among the voters.

Polling started at 10.30am and continued till 5.30pm. Supporters of contestants carried cards bearing names of their candidates and did some last-minute campaigning. Some of them chanted slogans in favour of their candidates.

There were some arguments among lawyers but those were quickly resolved.

There were 11 booths; 10 for male lawyers and one for women lawyers.

Some lawyers complained about the strictness of security arrangements made by the election commission at sessions court, saying there was only one entrance and one exit point for the voters.

Mismanagement

Syed Sabir Ali Shah, a candidate for library secretary, declared the exercise unfair. He said his name was not printed on ballot papers.

Shah submitted an application to the election commission chairman and the Punjab Bar Council demanding a re-election.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Shah said he was informed by his supporters that his name was missing from the ballot papers when they went to vote.

He said when he protested, the election commission chairman ordered his name to be stamped on the remaining ballot papers. Shah said the absence of his name from the ballot papers could be part of a plot against him.

“They should have called a fresh election when I complained,” he said.

Election Commission Deputy Chairman Waqar Hassain Naqvi declined comment until results are announced.

On Musharraf

Asma Jahangir, former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, said former president Pervez Musrraf’s trial should be taken seriously. She said the government should make an example of Musharraf so that no general ever got adventurous again.

She was addressing newsmen at the sessions court.

She said Musharraf had approached her to hire her as his counsel but she had declined.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2014.