CHAKWAL, Jan 10: District Bar Association of Chakwal will hold elections on January 12, 2013. Currently the bar is divided into two groups — Zaidi Group and Pasha Group.

Both the groups are named after senior lawyers — Ziaul Hassan Zaidi and Hassan Raza Pasha. A tough contest is expected as both groups are equally strong.

An Election Board has been set up, which would conduct the elections. The board comprises two senior members, Advocate Malik Nisar Ahmad and Advocate Chaudhry Abdul Rasool, while it is headed by advocate Chaudhry Imdad Hussain.

The polling will commence at 9:00am and end at 3:00pm.

The contest for the presidency — the top slot — will be between Advocate Malik Abdul Jalil of Zaidi Group and Advocate Khawaja Khalid Farooq of Pasha Group, while the fight for the slot of general secretary the second important seat will be between Advocate Chaudhry Mohammad Zubair of Zaidi Group and Advocate Arif Minhas of Pasha Group.

As many as 325 members of the bar will exercise their right of vote, on Saturday, January 12, and elect 12 office bearers, including president and general secretary.

One woman lawyer, Advocate Sumaira Muneer Janjua is also an aspirant for the seat of joint secretary, while there are 38 women members in the bar.

Talking to Dawn, Advocate Sumaira Muneer Janjua expressed her concerns over the lack of women representation in the bar.

However, Senior lawyer Ziaul Hassan Zaidi said that a proposal to introduce a seat of additional secretary general for a woman candidate is under consideration on which only women candidates will be able to contest.

On the other hand, Advocate Khawaja Asghar Farooq said that elections of the bar suggest that the legal fraternity believes in democracy.