LAHORE: Munir Hussain Bhatti of Asma Jahangir group was elected president of the Lahore Bar Association (LBA) for 2024-25 in an election held on Saturday.

Bhatti bagged 3,834 votes against two rival candidates.

Khurram Shad of Hamid Khan-led professional group could not perform well as he could secure 1,045 votes.

Adeeb Aslam Bhinder, an independent candidate, stood runner-up with 2,010 votes.

Bhatti had lost his election last year to Rana Intezar Hussain of the professional group.

The last-year election of the LBA was hit by controversy as the Punjab Bar Council (PBC) had suspended the polling on the charges of rigging by various candidates.

However, the election board had ignored the PBC direction, completed the polling and also announced the result. Later, the dispute was resolved and all groups accepted the victory of Mr Hussain.

Nisar Akbar Bhatti was elected senior vice president with 2,931 votes while Rana Imran Sarwar polled 2,651 ballots to become vice president.

Rana Naeem Tahir notched the slot of secretary. He got 4,010 votes.

Bilal Asif Malik and Waris Ali Gujjar were elected vice president on one each seat for Model Town and Cantonment, respectively.

Zubair Gujjar was elected finance secretary.

As many as 7,171 out of 14,228 members exercised their right to vote.

The supporters of the winning candidates resorted to indiscriminate aerial firing despite warnings issued by the police.

Some lawyers engaged in scuffles with the police personnel on being warned against the use of firearms.

Later, police arrested several lawyers on charges of aerial firing.

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2024