LAHORE: Asad Manzoor Butt of Hamid Khan-led Professional group was elected president of the Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) in an election held on Saturday for the year 2024-25.

Butt won the election in a one-on-one contest with Saqib Akram Gondal of Independent group, famously known as Asma Jahangir group, with a margin of 427 votes. Butt secured 6,195 votes while Gondal obtained 5,768.

Butt, who personally belongs to Jamat-i-Islami, also enjoyed the support of the lawyers affiliated to the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and Pakistan Awami Tehreek. He was previously elected secretary of the Supreme Court Bar Association in 2015.

The lawyers’ wings of PPP, PML-N and PML-Q backed Gondal.

Mian Sardar Ali Gehlan was elected vice president with 3,344 votes. Abdul Rehman Ranjha stood runner-up with 2,998 votes among other five candidates.

Qadir Bakhash Chahal notched the office of secretary with 7,119 votes. Qasim Ijaz Samra remained second with 3,553 votes while third candidate Asif Mahmood Chohan bagged 1,260 votes.

Falak Naz Gill obtained 5,503 votes to win the seat of finance secretary.

Her rivals Hamm bin Shoaib Kamboh got 5,033 votes and Farrukh Shah could muster 1,389 votes.

As many as 12,008 members cast their votes out of a total of 29,216 voters.

In his victory speech, President Butt said PTI founder Imran Khan was the most sufferer citizen in Pakistan. He vowed to protect the rights of every citizen of the country including the former prime minister.

MULTAN: Sajjad Haider Maitla was elected president of the Lahore High Court Bar Association- Multan seat.

Maitla bagged 3,160 votes against 1,374 secured by his rival Arif Kamal Noon.

Syed Anees Mehdi was elected secretary by defeating Fayaz Ranjha, Malik Zafar Iqbal Bhutta and Faizullah Chantar.

Published in Dawn, February 25th, 2024