KARACHI, Dec 19: The members of the Karachi Bar Association failed to elect their representative body for 2006 as the annual election was marred on Monday by the worst hooliganism of its kind in the KBA history.
Witnesses said unruly lawyers broke open the KBA library, took out the ballot boxes, smashed them and tore the ballet papers before the poll counting.
Chief election commissioner Munawwar Malik, who sent in his resignation a little after noon, told Dawn that it was the “most disturbed election” of the KBA. “To me, it is a dead election.”
The KBA’s annual election was held here on Saturday amid allegations of rigging, mismanagement and altercations between the rival candidates.
The election commission had to suspend the polling for at least one hour because of the massive rigging by certain elements.
The candidates and their supporters reportedly forced the voters to cast their votes in their favour. “Some candidates even snatched ballot papers from voters and cast votes on their own,” they said.
As many as 2,824 out of the total enlisted 4,200 votes were cast to elect the KBA’s 21-member body, comprising six office-bearers and 15 managing committee members.
The election commissioner had put off the counting of votes till Monday. The counting, which was scheduled to resume at 2pm, however, did not commence following the resignation of the election commissioner.
The KBA sitting president, Mehmoodul Hasan, told Dawn that the KBA received the resignation of the election commissioner at around 12:45pm. He said an emergency meeting of the KBA’s managing committee was convened and it was decided at the meeting that another meeting would be held with all the candidates for the posts of the office-bearers to find a way to resolve the issue.
He said he with other committee members came down from the KBA office to display a notice regarding the meeting and in the meanwhile some hooligans broke open the library and took out the ballot boxes. “The hooligans broke open four ballot boxes and they also destroyed the ballot papers.”
He said the managing committee would meet on Tuesday in the KBA office.
Mohammed Aqil, a candidate for the post of KBA president, told Dawn that there were more than 600 bar members on the KBA premises when the chief election commissioner sent in his resignation. He said the lawyers requisitioned a general body meeting, in which they unanimously demanded re-polling.
Mehmoodul Hasan (KBA chief for the last two consecutive terms), Mashood Ahmed and Mohammad Aqil were candidates for the post of president. Mehmoodul Hasan.
Three candidates -– Abdul Wahab Ansari, Mohammad Nadim Qureshi and Shaukat Ali Cheema -– contested for the office of general secretary.
Amir Niaz Khan, Mohammad Arshad Khan Jadoon, Manzoor Ahmed and Tabbasum Sultana were candidates for the post of joint secretary.
Hakim Ali Shaikh, Khurshid A. Siddiqui, Sarwat Israr and Mehmooda Qasim fought election for the office of treasurer. Ms Qasim is the sitting treasurer and had defeated Ms Israr in the last elections.
Abdul Hameed Yousufi, A. Karim Memon, Javed Chhatari, Mohammad Saeedur Rehman, Rehmat Hussain, Tanvir Ahmed and Yousuf Moulvi were in the run for the slot of vice-president.
Ghulam Asghar Sain and Shaikh Mohammad Suleman contested for the post of librarian.
There were 30 candidates for 15 seats of the managing committee. They are Abdul Hameed Khan, Abdul Khaliq, Abdul Latif Shaikh, Abdul Qadir, Abdullah Rajput, Banaras Khan, Ms Farkhunda Arshad, Hamid Raza, Hasan Mehdi, Malik Abdul Latif, Malik Saleem Akhtar, Mohammad Rehan Qureshi, Mohammed Ali Khan, Mohammad Ashfaq Satti, Mohammad Aslam Khan, Mohammad Iqbal Baloch, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rafi Muzni, Mohammad Saeeduddin Siddiqui, Mohammad Salim Khan, Mohammad Yamin Fateh, Mohammad Yasin, Akhtar Ali Junejo, Muzammil Iqbal Qazi, Nadir Shah Babar, Ms Nargis Fatima, Nasarullah, Ms Rahila Khanum, Shahid Iqbal Rana and Syed Raeesul Mughis.
