* Secures 834 votes, Ahmad Awais wins 796 votes

* Asma says she will invite all former bar presidents to devise future strategy

* President, PM felicitate Asma on her victory

LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: Asma Jahangir, a renowned human rights activist and lawyer, became the first female president to be elected to the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) with a margin of 38 votes.
Asma secured 834 votes from the eight polling stations in the country – Lahore, Rawalpindi, Abbotabad, Multan, Peshawar, Bahawalpur, Karachi and Quetta – while Ahmed Awais got 796. The third candidate, Muhammad Ikram Chaudhry, bagged 128 votes.
Asma won from five stations – Abbotabad, Lahore, Peshawar, Karachi and Quetta – while Ikram could not win from a single polling station.
In Karachi, Asma led with 114 votes followed by Awais with 107 votes. However, she lagged behind in Islamabad, Multan and Bahawalpur. In Lahore, she led with 419 votes against 409 for Awais. In Quetta, she got 24 votes, while Awais obtained 22. In Peshawar, she secured 47 votes against 33 votes for Awais.
Awais, a candidate of the Professional group, obtained 136 votes in Islamabad and led the contest with 12 votes there, while Asma finished second by securing 124 votes. For the office of the secretary, Sohail Dar, Munsif Malik Awan, Qamar Zaman Qureshi and Rana Farman Ali were in the run. Sanaullah Khan Zahid was elected unopposed for the office of finance secretary.
Strategy: Asma Jahangir, after her victory, said that she had defeated the elements who, in the name of rule of law, were trying to fulfill their vested interests, adding that all institutions should perform within their limits. She said the bar would criticise the government whenever it would do something wrong and the judiciary would also face the same criticism in case it passed a controversial judgement. She said she would invite all former presidents of the bar to devise a future strategy.
Meanwhile, President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani felicitated Asma Jahangir on her election as the SCBA president. Zardari said the legal fraternity and lawyers’ community had reposed confidence in Asma and acknowledged her abilities as a great lawyer and fearless leader. The PM said, “Your election as the SCBA president is reflective of the lawyers’ confidence in your leadership.”