Over 14,600 lawyers are expected to vote in the elections. STOCK IMAGE
The Professional Group has fielded Chaudhry Ishtiaq Khan and the Friends’ Group has nominated Arshad Jahangir Jhojha as presidential candidates. Over 14,600 lawyers are expected to vote in the elections. A neck-to-neck race is expected. Khan is seen having a slightly better chance of securing the presidential slot as Jhojha’s prospects have been marred by his father’s support for former president Pervez Musharraf and the imposition of Emergency in 2007.
Khan is being supported by the Peoples’ Lawyers’ Forum, the Mian Israrul Haq group, former law minister Rana Mashhood, the Insaf Lawyers’ Forum and 11 former presidents of the LBA among others. Jhojha is backed by Jehangir Badar of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Naseer Ahmed Bhutta of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the Raiwind Lawyers’ Forum, the Ehbab Lawyers’ Forum and the Zarb-i-Kaleem among other groups and in the elections and vowed to strive for lawyers’ welfare.
Khan told The Express Tribune that he had the support of Pakistan Bar Council members Maqsood Buttar and Mian Abdul Qudoos and Punjab Bar Council members Rana Intizar, Munir Hussain Bhatti, Jameel Asghar Bhatti, Abdul Latif Hanjra, Bushra Qamar, Khlaida Perveen and Abussamad Bisria.
He said Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) former presidents Asghar Ali Gill, Ahmed Awais, Hafiz Abdur Rehman Ansari and current president Shafqat Mahmood Chohan were supporting him. Khan said eleven former presidents of LBA including Nusrat Javed Bajwa, Mirza Haneef, Mazoor Qadir, Zafar Iqbal and Nauman Qureshi were backing him. He said the Khokhar Lawyers’ Forum, the New Lawyers’ Forum, Bright Vision and 200 groups from the Young Lawyers’ Slot were supporting him.
Jhojha told The Express Tribune that Pakistan Bar Council members Ahsan Bhoon, Azam Nazeer Tarar, Burhan Moazzam Malik, the Raiwind Lawyers’ Forum, Zarb-i-Kaleem and the Ehbab Lawyers’ Forum were supporting his election bid among hundreds of other groups.
A close fight is expected between Muhammad Jahangir Bhatti, Naveed Chughtai and Malik Sultan for two slots of vice-president. Adeeb Aslam Bhindar and Babar Humayun Chohan are expected to be elected secretaries. A neck-to-neck race is expected between Syed Tafseer Haider Shah and Mian Abid to win the seat of the Model Town vice-president. Shah is believed to have an edge over Abid due to the incumbency factor.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 10th, 2015.
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