HYDERABAD: Ayaz Tunio and his group won all but one slots of the office-bears and six out of the total seven seats of the managing committee of the High Court Bar Association (HCBA), Hyderabad, in the election held on Saturday.

Tunio retained his position as the president by bagging 432 votes, beating his old friend, Advocate Nisar Durrani, with a margin of 34 votes. Ishrat Lohar, a former HCBA joint secretary, was elected general secretary with 416 vote, defeating Mumtaz Leghari, who had formed an alliance with Durrani. Both Leghari and Durrani polled an equal number of votes (398).

Lohar had joined Tunio’s camp at the eleventh hour, conceding on social media that he had tried to bring about reconciliation between Durrani and Tunio so that the group remained intact but he could not succeed, therefore, he himself decided to contest from Tunio’s panel as general secretary.

Wasim Shah of the Tunio group was elected vice president with the highest number of votes (635), beating Aslam Bhatti. Its candidate for joint secretary, Noorul Amin Sipyo, however, lost to Altaf Sachal Awan who secured 415 votes. Mumtaz Lashari and Bhagwandas Bheel of the same group were elected library secretary (491 votes) and treasurer (428 votes), respectively.

The candidates who returned as members of the managing committee were Israr Chang, Shabana Naureen, Rehana Gujjar, Rao Faisal, Kanji Mal, Iqbal Panhwar and Iqbal Hingoro.

Nisar Durrani, a former advocate general, speaking to Dawn said that three ministers’ presence during the polling had led to almost rampage at two polling booths but the Sindh Bar Council (SBC) members did not take notice of it. “I am made to lose,” he claimed, adding that the people who accompanied law minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar were allowed to cast votes despite the fact that they could not prove their identity.

“They didn’t produce their card and cast their votes while sitting in the corridor. It was a total chaos when these guys had entered polling booths. We requested SBC to set up polling booths in all four courtrooms but they chose only two courts,” he said.

SBC member Salahuddin Gandapur, who acted as the chairman of the election committee, rejected Durrani’s contentions. He said Lanjar’s supporters were restricted to the non-canvassing area of candidates. “CCTV (close circuit television cameras) were there and if Durrani can produce any footage to substantiate his claim [of rigging], the election results can be declared null and avoid,” he said.

Gandapur also said that no irregularity in polling booths took place as alleged by Durrani. “No one other than eligible voters was allowed to cast vote,” he added.

Published in Dawn, February 5th, 2018