LAHORE: Malik Arshad of the Friends Group, which is led by Asma Jahangir, managed to secure the top slot of president Lahore Bar Association (LBA) 2018 by toppling Asim Cheema of Hamid Khan’s Professional Group. Unofficial results reveal that Arshad was ahead of his rival candidate by over 740 votes, while his vote count was said to be 1,710. Cheema was behind him with 1,007 votes, indicating victory for Arshad. A total of 39 candidates contested the election for 11 different slots and there was one-on-one contest for the presidential slot. Mehar Tanveer Iftikhar, Asad Ali, Ijaz Basra, Chaudhry Fawad Ramey and Rana Naeem contested for two seats of vice presidents. Moreover, Rana Kausar Ali, Syed Mujtaba Kazmi, Mian Asif were also vying for vice president seat of Model Town. Rana Manzoor Ahmed, Syed Zahid Hamdani, Irfan Khichi, Aziz Bhatti, Muhammad Sindhu, and Mian Sakhawat stood for vice president seat from Cantt courts. Furthermore, there were eight contesters namely Rana Kashif Saleem, Malik Sohail Murshad, Chaudhry Qadir Nawaz, M Azeem, Asif Chohan, Abid Hafeez, Faraz and Maqsood Khokhar for the two seats of secretaries. For one seat of joint secretary, Tayaba Mumarik, Makhdoom Shah, Ch Tehseen Tahir and Usman Bhatti were in the field. Also, for one seat of finance secretary, contesters Shabnam Bano, Razia Sultana, Raja Numan and Imtiaz Gujjar were contesting. Published in Daily Times, January 15th 2018.