The Lahore High Court Bar Association’s general house on Monday approved a code of conduct for the forthcoming polls, drafted by the LHCBA executive.
Several lawyers The Express Tribune spoke to are of the view that this is an encroachment on the functions of the LHCBA’s election board that is yet to be constituted. This would reduce the powers of the election board and prevent it from incorporating rules the incumbent body is not comfortable with, they said.
Last year, election board chairman Advocate Waqar Hasan Mir had resigned after the candidates refused to abide by the code of conduct the board had drafted and the general body voted against the code.
Mir told The Express Tribune that it was unknown for the bar executive to only inform their supporters about a general house meeting when they wanted passed some resolutions that might not a pass a full house. He said prescribing a code of conduct and enforcing it was the prerogative of the election board. “The general house was moved against the code we had drafted last year in an attempt to fix irregularities in the system,” he said. “So I resigned.”
Mir said the move to approve a code of ethics before the election board was formed had tarnished the image of the legal fraternity.
Advocate Rabbiya Bajwa said, “How can the bar make a code of conduct without an election board?” The LHCBA has effectively clipped the powers of the election board through this move, she said.
LHCBA Secretary Balighuzaman Chaudhry, however, said the executive had in fact strengthened the election board by drafting a code of conduct that would be binding upon all candidates.
He said because of what happened last year, the bar’s elected body had decided to take it upon itself to make rules. “We have tried to make the office of the election board as noncontroversial as possible,” he said.
According to the code of conduct approved by the general house on Monday, candidates will not be allowed to display placards, banners or stickers in the courts or bar rooms. Candidates and their supporters will not be allowed to host meals or hi-teas to garner support. They will, however, be allowed to offer tea, samosas, cakes, burfi, and gulab jamuns in the bar’s courtyard.
Candidates will not be allowed to host meals by setting up tables and chairs in front their offices. Only the presidential candidates will be permitted to host meals for voters a day before the elections.
Candidates may be disqualified or fined Rs200,000 for violating the code.
The LHCBA vice president, secretary and finance secretary would be part of the committee to ensure that the code of conduct for the elections scheduled to be held on February 22 was respected.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 27th, 2013.