Tough contest: Lawyers to elect 16 PbBC members today

69 candidates are in the race for this year’s vote

LAHORE: More than 19,500 lawyers will exercise their right to vote to elect 16 members of the Punjab Bar Council (PBC) from Lahore on Saturday (today) on Lahore High Court (LHC) premises.

There are 69 candidates in the race for this year’s vote. Polling will be held from 9am to 4pm at 45 polling stations.

In Lahore division, 26,500 voters will elect 22 PBC members.

Of these, 16 seats are in Lahore and two each in Kasur, Sheikhupra and Okara.

Ten contesters from Kasur, nine from Sheikhupra and 12 from Okara are contesting.

The campaigns at Aiwan-i-Adl have gained momentum over the last week. The candidates and their supporters have been hosting lunches at bar rooms.

The campaigns had started off before Ramazan. Candidates had arranged iftar and mango parties to woo support.

Syed Farhad Ali Shah, Rana Intizar, Tahir Nasarullah Waraich, Babar Waheed, Khawar Rasheed, Mian Faiz, Sarwar Nahang, Bushra Qamar, Imran Idrees and Attique Chauhan are among the favourites.

Mujtaba Chaudhry, a lawyer, said the competition was tough. He said it was hard to predict the winners. He also said the practice of spending lavishly on election campaigns should be discouraged.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 22^nd, 2014.