PESHAWAR/ABBOTTABAD: Senior lawyer affiliated with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Mohammad Tariq Afridi was elected the president of the Peshawar High Court Bar Association here on Saturday.

He bagged 985 votes defeating Mohammad Taif Khan of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (740 votes) and outgoing PHCBA president Rehmanullah of the Awami National Party(570 votes).

Mr Afridi was fielded by the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) comprising six lawyer groups, including Muslim Lawyer Forum-N, Peoples Lawyers Forum (PLF), Jamiat Lawyers Forum, Young Lawyers Forum, Islamic Lawyers Movement and Justice Forum.

Another GDA candidate, Lajbar Khan Khali, who belonged to the Pakistan Peoples Party, was elected the PHCBA’s general secretary with 925 votes, whereas his rival candidates, Babar Khan Yousafzai of the ANP lawyer wing Malgary Wakeelan and Shah Faisal Utmankhel of the Insaf Lawyers Forum (ILF), secured 726 and 630 votes respectively.

General secretary slot won by PPP candidate

In a close contest, Malgary Wakeelan candidate Sawar Khan was elected as vice- president (1109 votes). He defeated GDA-backed Akhter Ilyas (1108 votes).

Woman candidate Nida Khan of the Malgary Wakeelan became the finance secretary of the association by securing 1,157 votes against 1,115 votes obtained by Wajid Khan Khalil of the grand alliance.

Moreover, Noor Wali Khan of the grand alliance was elected as the joint secretary by getting 872 votes, whereas Zulfiqar Ali of Malgary Wakeelan received 743 votes and independent candidate Imran Khan got 580 votes.

Against two seats of executive members from Peshawar, Mohammad Waqas Munir and Sara Ali Khan, both of Malgary Wakeelan were elected by getting 652 and 576 votes, respectively.

Shabir Ahmad and Naik Rehman were elected as executive members from Nowshera and Khyber districts, respectively.

Fawad Afzal Safi and Fida Mohammad Khan have already been elected unopposed as the library secretary and information secretary, respectively.

Senior lawyer Fazal Ilahi Khan was the election commissioner for polls, which began at 8am and ended at 4pm on the premises of the Peshawar High Court as well as in the adjacent Charssada, Nowshera, Kohat, Mardan and Swabi districts, and Lahor and Takht Bhai tehsils (Swabi).

A total of 2,636 association members voted.

Almost all candidates carried out the election campaign in the last couple of days.

Lawyer groups and candidates had set up their respective camps, which were visited by their supporters throughout the day.

Lawyers of different political groups continued canvassing until the last minute, while political leaders visited camps of their respective candidates.

The candidates displayed banners and posters with slogans to attract voters.

Meanwhile, Javed Tanoli was elected the president of the Peshawar High Court Bar Association Abbottabad here on Saturday.

Mr Tanoli got 529 votes, while his rival and outgoing president Mehdi Zaman Advocate, who obtained 457 votes.

According to the notification issued by the election committee, all other office-bearers of the association got elected unopposed.

They included vice-president Khalid Rabbani, secretary Tanveer Ahmad Din, additional secretary Rabia Gul, finance secretary Sardar Amber Maqsood and library secretary Ummad Ahmed Gul.

Nayyar Khan, Maria Bashir, Ayesha Yousaf, Syed Raza Ali Shah, Sardar Mohammad Waleed and Jawad Naqvi were elected members of the executive committee.

Published in Dawn, May 7th, 2023