LAHORE: Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, PTI secretary general Salman Akram Raja, former president of Supreme Court Bar Association Ahsan Bhoon and PPP Senator Farooq H Naek were prominent among 59 candidates who on Thursday filed their nomination papers from across the country for upcoming election of 23 members of the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC), the top regulatory body of lawyers.

A total of 27 candidates filed the nominations for 11 seats allocated for the Punjab province including Mr Tarar, Mr Raja, Mr Bhoon, Syed Qalb-i-Hassan, Tahir Nasrullah Warraich, Saqib Akram Gondal, Hafeezur Rehman Chaudhry, Pir Masood Chishti, Maqsood Buttar, Amir Saeed Rawn, Pervaiz Inayat Malik, Asif Mehmood Cheema, Zulfiqar Ali, Mahmood Ashraf Khan, Muhammad Ilyas Sheikh, Ahsanud Din, Mian Abdul Qaddous, Asad Manzoor Butt, Mushtaq Ahmad Mohal, Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali, Chaudhry Ishtiaq Ahmad Khan, Ahmad Awais, Shafqat Mehmood Chohan, Rana Zia Abdul Rehman, Khadim Hussain Qaiser, Malik Ghulam Mustafa Kandwal, and Zafar Mahmood Mughal.

For six seats reserved for the Sindh province, as many as 14 candidates are in the run.

They are Munir Ahmed Malik, Farooq Hamid Naek, Salahuddin Ahmed, Muhammad Lutfullah Arain, Shahab Sarki, Muhammad Nadeem Qureshi, Abid Shahid Zuberi, Rana Muhammad Shamim, Ubedullah Malano, Fazal Qadir Memon, Hameedullah Dahri, Muzaffar Ali Laghari, Abdul Jabbar Qureshi, and Muhammad Saleem Mangrio.

59 file papers for 23 council members; main contest expected between Hamid Khan, Asma groups

Eleven candidates are vying for four seats of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa including Syed Amjad Shah, former senator Noor Alam Khan, Qazi Muhammad Arshad, Khush Dil Khan, Rehmanullah, Atlas Khan, Malik Akhtar Hussain Awan, Abdul Sattar Khan, Qazi Muhammad Anwar, Naveed Akhtar and Kausar Ali Shah.

Five candidates filed their nominations for a single seat from Balochistan including Munir Ahmad Khan Kakar, Rehmatullah Barech, Jameel Ahmed Khan, Amanullah Kanrani and Muhammad Rauf Atta.

Raja Rizwan Abbasi and Syed Qamar Hussain Shah Sabzwari would contest for one seat reserved for Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT).

Majority of the candidates are or have previously been members of the top regulatory body.

The main contest is expected between candidates of the Hamid Khan-led professional group and the Ahsan Bhoon-led independent group, famously known as Asma Jahangir group, which enjoys a majority in the outgoing PBC cabinet.

The members of the provincial and Islamabad bar councils, who constitute the electoral college in this election, would elect 23 members of the PBC from their respective provinces and the ICT.

The scrutiny of the nomination papers would be held in the Islamabad office of the attorney general for Pakistan, the returning officer, on Dec 2 at 10am.

The polling would take place on Dec 13 at all the four provincial capitals and ICT in the respective advocate general offices.

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2025