OKARA: The district bar association (DBA) is embroiled in a controversy after two cosignatory chairmen of the election board for the annual bar elections separately notified the results of the poll with different winners.

One of the election board chairmen, Shahid Hameed, along with members Rai Awais Ahmad and Muhammad Azeem Rana on Saturday midnight declared and notified Ramzan Nadeem Channar as the new DBA president who bagged 597 votes against Farooq Ashraf Sangoka’s 554.

Rana Fida Mohyuddin was announced as the general secretary after securing 696 votes against Rai Tariq Kharal’s 454 votes, Mian Haroon Farooq as senior vice president, Syed Arshad Rafique Abidi vice president, Malik Rauf Khali joint secretary, Ali Awais Gillani library secretary, Wajid Ali Chohan auditor and Mohsin Chohan elected unopposed as finance secretary.

Whereas, the cosignatory chairman, Sheikh Najamus Saqib, along with members Sajjad Naroo, Syed Muzaffar Gillani and election observer Ali Riaz Kirmani only notified the result of the president’s slot, declaring Farooq Ashraf Sangoka as the winner with 580 votes against Ramzan Nadeem Channar’s 569.

This notification also read that the cosignatory, Shahid Hameed, created hindrance to ballot counting and forcibly took away the other ballot papers due to which results for the remaining six offices of the DBA could not be declared.

On the other hand, Hameed got a first information report registered against 20 suspects, including five nominated, of the Sangoka group at Saddar police stations under sections 382, 171F, 506-B, 148 and 149 of the PPC for forcibly taking away the ballot papers bag.

MINOR DRINKS ACID: A 10-year-old girl died after consuming acid that was lying in a washroom in a beverage bottle.

Minor Fazila Tufail went to a washroom in her house in Ziauddin Colony in Dipalpur where a beverage bottle was lying. She picked up the bottle thinking it was a drink and consumed it.

Her condition started to deteriorate and she died in a short while.

Published in Dawn, January 13th, 2020