Lawyers’ politics: Ahsan Bhoon group wins bar election
Chishti defeats Maqbool of the Hamid Khan group to become president.
A group photo of newly elected office bearers of High Court Bar. PHOTO: INP
LAHORE:
Candidates affiliated with the Ahsan Bhoon Group won election to all four offices of the Lahore High Court Bar Association according to the unofficial results announced on Saturday.
They defeated Hamid Khan-led Professional’s Group’s candidates to secure the offices of president, vice president, general secretary and finance secretary for the term 2015-16.
The incumbent leadership of the Supreme Court Bar Association and the Pakistan Bar Council is also close to the Ahsan Bhoon Group.
Peer Masood Chishti was elected the president. He defeated Sheikh Shahid Maqbool with a margin of 835 votes. He bagged 4,053 votes against Maqbool’s 3,118 votes.
Irfan Arif Sheikh secured 4,309 votes to win the election to the office of the vice president. His opponent, Soofia Masood, could bag 2,805 votes.
Muhammad Ahmad Qayyum was elected secretary. He defeated Mian Asghar Ali with a margin of 359 votes.
Syed Akhtar Sherazi was elected finance secretary. He polled 2,628 votes against Amina Ajmal’s 1,395, Azeem Akram’s 1,682 and Nabeela Jafri’s 1,452 votes.
Of the 19,672 voting members, 7,300 exercised their right to vote in the Saturday’s election.
Biometric verification of details was not mandatory for casting votes on Saturday. The details of 5,800 voters were verified using biometric technology and the remaining 1,500 manually. Election Board chairman Shehzad Shaukat said the decision was taken to ensure that no voting member was deprived of his right to vote. Meanwhile, he said, work was underway on compilation of a voters’ database.
The outgoing LHCBA president had earlier announced that biometric technology would be used for verification of voters’ antecedents.
Currently, there are 24,730 LHCBA members. Of these, 19,672 were members in good standing for the Saturday’s polls.
Talking to the media after his victory, Chisthi said he would work for the welfare of the lawyers’ community and continue his struggle for rule of law.
Strict security arrangements were made for the election with walk through gates installed at all entrances.
‘No such thing as an election with show of hands”
There is no such thing as an election with show of hands. The sanctity of secret ballot should be maintained, former Supreme Court Bar Association president Asma Jahangir of the Ahsan Bhoon group said on Saturday.
She was speaking to the media after casting her vote for the Lahore High Court Bar Association election. She said it appeared that politicians still lacked knowledge of election rules and procedures.
Earlier, Advocate Hamid Khan, former law minister Khalid Ranjha, former attorney general of Pakistan Malik Qayyum amongst other visited the LHC to cast ballots on Saturday.
Polling had started at 9am and continued without any break till the lunch hour (1pm- 2pm). It later continued till 5pm in the evening.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 1st, 2015.
Candidates affiliated with the Ahsan Bhoon Group won election to all four offices of the Lahore High Court Bar Association according to the unofficial results announced on Saturday.
They defeated Hamid Khan-led Professional’s Group’s candidates to secure the offices of president, vice president, general secretary and finance secretary for the term 2015-16.
The incumbent leadership of the Supreme Court Bar Association and the Pakistan Bar Council is also close to the Ahsan Bhoon Group.
Peer Masood Chishti was elected the president. He defeated Sheikh Shahid Maqbool with a margin of 835 votes. He bagged 4,053 votes against Maqbool’s 3,118 votes.
Irfan Arif Sheikh secured 4,309 votes to win the election to the office of the vice president. His opponent, Soofia Masood, could bag 2,805 votes.
Muhammad Ahmad Qayyum was elected secretary. He defeated Mian Asghar Ali with a margin of 359 votes.
Syed Akhtar Sherazi was elected finance secretary. He polled 2,628 votes against Amina Ajmal’s 1,395, Azeem Akram’s 1,682 and Nabeela Jafri’s 1,452 votes.
Of the 19,672 voting members, 7,300 exercised their right to vote in the Saturday’s election.
Biometric verification of details was not mandatory for casting votes on Saturday. The details of 5,800 voters were verified using biometric technology and the remaining 1,500 manually. Election Board chairman Shehzad Shaukat said the decision was taken to ensure that no voting member was deprived of his right to vote. Meanwhile, he said, work was underway on compilation of a voters’ database.
The outgoing LHCBA president had earlier announced that biometric technology would be used for verification of voters’ antecedents.
Currently, there are 24,730 LHCBA members. Of these, 19,672 were members in good standing for the Saturday’s polls.
Talking to the media after his victory, Chisthi said he would work for the welfare of the lawyers’ community and continue his struggle for rule of law.
Strict security arrangements were made for the election with walk through gates installed at all entrances.
‘No such thing as an election with show of hands”
There is no such thing as an election with show of hands. The sanctity of secret ballot should be maintained, former Supreme Court Bar Association president Asma Jahangir of the Ahsan Bhoon group said on Saturday.
She was speaking to the media after casting her vote for the Lahore High Court Bar Association election. She said it appeared that politicians still lacked knowledge of election rules and procedures.
Earlier, Advocate Hamid Khan, former law minister Khalid Ranjha, former attorney general of Pakistan Malik Qayyum amongst other visited the LHC to cast ballots on Saturday.
Polling had started at 9am and continued without any break till the lunch hour (1pm- 2pm). It later continued till 5pm in the evening.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 1st, 2015.