The Ahsan Bhoon Independent Group has achieved a clear victory in the Punjab Bar Council elections, winning a majority of seats in Lahore, according to unofficial results announced on Sunday.
In the Lahore region, the Independent Group secured 45 seats, while candidates backed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) managed to win 15 seats. Vote counting for several remaining seats is still underway. The final official results are expected to be announced on November 17.
Federal Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar congratulated the Ahsan Bhoon Group on its success. The election saw a strong contest between the Ahsan Bhoon Independent Group, also known as the Asma Jahangir Group, and the Hamid Khan Professional Group for 75 seats across Lahore.
Across Punjab, more than 132,000 lawyers cast their votes, showing a high level of participation. In Lahore alone, 31,000 lawyers voted for 77 candidates competing for 16 seats.
Prominent lawyers including Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan, Ahsan Bhoon, Hamid Khan, Ashfaq Bhullar, and Sardar Latif Khosa also exercised their right to vote.
Moreover, the government-backed group has won three out of the five available seats in the Islamabad Bar Council elections, according to unofficial results.
Hamid Khan group won one seat and an independent candidate claimed the remaining position.
As per the unofficial tally, Abdul Rehman Har Bajwa emerged as the top scorer with 1,369 votes, followed closely by Raja Aleem Abbasi with 1,351 votes, Chaudhry Hafeezullah Yaqoob 1,295 votes, Mohammad Zafar Khokhar 1,288 votes and Asif Irfan 1,126 votes.
The candidates backed by the government – Abdul Rehman Har Bajwa, Raja Aleem Abbasi and Asif Irfan – were declared successful.
Chaudhry Hafeezullah Yaqoob, representing the Hamid Khan group, also secured a seat while Mohammad Zafar Khokhar won as an independent candidate.
Meanwhile, PPP-backed candidates have secured prominent victories in the Sindh Bar Council elections. According to unofficial results, besides Zia-ul-Hassan Lanjar from Nawabshah, other winning candidates include Qurban Malano from Sukkur, Asif Soomro from Larkana, Abdul Razzaq Mahar from Ghotki, Abdul Sattar Lohar from Naushahro Feroze, Hashim Laghari from Mirpurkhas, and Ayaz Tanio from Hyderabad, among others.
In Balochistan, Professional Panel candidates Najeebullah Kakar and Afzal Hareefal won with 21 and 20 votes, respectively. From Nushki, Professional Panel candidates Attaullah Lango and Akbar Shah were elected with 10 votes each.
Moreover, lawyers backed by the Awami National Party (ANP) have won at least 12 of the 28 seats of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council, outperforming other groups in polls held across the province on Saturday, according to provisional results.
The unofficial results released on Sunday revealed that three candidates of Malgari Wakilan (MW), which is affiliated with the ANP, two of the PTI’s lawyers wing and an independent candidate were elected on six of the seven seats of Peshawar.
Meanwhile, there were conflicting reports about the results for the seventh seat until the last updates were received.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, felicitated the Independent Group led by Ahsan Bhoon on securing majority seats in Islamabad Bar Council and Punjab Bar Council polls.
The prime minister expressed his good wishes for all the winning candidates of Independent Group and others.