LAHORE, Oct 31: Former Lahore High Court judge Malik Mohammad Qayyum was elected on Monday president of the Supreme Court Bar Association defeating Malik Saeed Hassan by a margin of about 90 votes in a keenly contested election in which lawyers came to polling stations in a large number.

The overall turnout of voters was a little over 80 per cent. A total of 1,224 votes were cast at seven polling stations set up across the country. There were 1,519 registered voters.

The election was supervised by the Pakistan Bar Council through a three-member election commission headed by PBC member Malik Rab Nawaz Noon.

In Lahore, 668 of 767 lawyers cast their vote while the number of jurists exercising their right of vote was 182 out of 267 in Karachi where voters from Hyderabad, Sukkur, Larkana and other parts of Sindh also cast votes. Similarly, 86 of them came to the polling station in Peshawar as against a total of 132 voters registered in the NWFP. As many as 35 of 50 lawyers cast their vote at Quetta.

As for other polling stations, 68 of 82 cast their vote in Multan, the lawyers casting their vote was 142 out of 176 in Islamabad and this number was 37 out of 45 in Bahawalpur. The result from other parts of the country were prepared fairly early but in Lahore counting started at around 6pm and the final result was announced after midnight.