The Independent group, commonly known as Asma Jahangir group, on Thursday claimed victory in the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) elections for the third consecutive year, with Haroonur Rashid elected as the new president and Zahid Aslam Awan elected secretary.
According to unofficial results, Rashid won by a comfortable margin over his rival, Taufiq Asif, from the Professional group led by Hamid Khan. Rashid got 629 votes from Lahore, while Asif got 431 votes. Lahore’s nearly 200-vote lead proved decisive in securing Rashid’s overall victory.
The vote distribution in other polling stations for Rashid and Asif is 120 and 101 in Quetta, 135 and 115 in Multan, 55 and 15 in Sukkur, 27 and 23 in Swat and 25 and 5 in Bannu, respectively.
Both the presidential candidates were from Islamabad/Rawalpindi as this year the top spot was reserved for the federal capital under a rotation policy.
For the post of secretary, Zahid Awan got 595 votes, defeating Mian Irfan Akram, who received 442 votes in the Lahore registry electoral college.
Across the country, 13 polling stations were set up, including Lahore, Multan, Bahawalpur, Karachi, Quetta, Peshawar and Hyderabad, among others.
Of them, Lahore SCBA Registry was designated as the largest polling centre, where 20 polling booths were set up. More than 1,400 lawyers were expected to cast their votes in the Lahore Registry alone.
