LAHORE: In a fourth consecutive victory for the Independent Group, Syed Amjad Shah was elected president of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) for year 2026-27 in elections held on Thursday.
According to unofficial results, Shah secured 644 votes in Lahore, while his rival, Sardar Amaan Khan of the Hamid Khan-led Professional Group, obtained 400 votes.
Shah also secured the lead in Bannu, where he received 33 votes against 12 polled by Amaan. In Dera Ismail Khan, Shah obtained 37 votes, while Amaan received seven. Shah also won in Sukkur, according to the initial results. Both presidential candidates are from KP since the top slot this year was reserved for the province as per a rotation policy.
For the secretary’s position, a close contest was seen as Arif Awan of the Independent Group bagged 525 votes from Lahore alone defeating the Professional Group’s Mian Irfan Akram, who received 518 votes.
As soon as the unofficial result was announced, supporters of the independent group, famously known as the Asma Jahangir group, celebrated outside the Lahore registry polling station, chanting slogans in favour of their winning candidates.
Flanked by the newly-elected president and secretary, independent group head Ahsan Bhoon expressed his gratitude to the lawyers’ wings of all political parties for their support in the election. Polling was held from 9am to 5pm at 13 polling stations across the country.
The SCBA has 4,634 registered voters, including 1,498 in Lahore, which is the largest voter base. A total of 1,050 votes were polled at the Lahore station.
The official results on all seats would be announced on Nov 3 in Islamabad.
Congratulations: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif congratulated the Independent group on its victory in the SCBA elections, extending particular congratulations to the group’s leader, Ahsan Bhoon. He said the government considered the legal community an important partner in advancing reforms and upholding the rule of law.
The prime minister also congratulated Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, a senior leader of the independent group.
He expressed confidence that the newly-elected SCBA leadership would continue contributing to the promotion of justice and democracy and the safeguarding of constitutional values in the country.
Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2026
