In historic first, Lahore High Court swears in woman Chief Justice
Lahore, Jul 11: Justice Aalia Neelum on Thursday took oath as the Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court (LHC) of Pakistan, making her the first woman to be elevated as the court’s top judge.
Punjab Governor Sardar Saleem Haider Khan administered the oath of office to her.
Punjab province's first woman Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz was also present in the oath-taking ceremony.
Justice Neelum, 57, stood third in the seniority list of judges of the LHC but the Judicial Commission of Pakistan headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa had decided to consider her nomination for the office of the LHC chief justice.
Soon after her elevation to the office of the CJ LHC, Neelum's pictures with the members of the ruling Sharif family went viral on social media suggesting that she has an association with the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) (PML-N).
Born on November 12, 1966, Justice Neelum earned her LLB degree from the University of Punjab in 1995 and was enrolled as an advocate in 1996.
She was later enrolled as an advocate of the Supreme Court in 2008 and elevated to the LHC in 2013 before being sworn in as a permanent judge on March 16, 2015.
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Jharkhand civic polls: 12 pc voter turnout recorded in 48 ULBs till 9 am
Ranchi (PTI): Around 12 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 9 am in the civic polls to 48 urban local bodies in Jharkhand on Monday, an election official said.
Voting, which commenced at 7 am, is underway amid tight security. It will continue till 5 pm, he said.
"Voter turnout of 12 per cent was recorded till 9 am. Polling is underway peacefully," State Election Commission (SEC) secretary Radhe Shyam Prasad said.
Over 43 lakh voters are eligible to decide the fate of 6,000-plus candidates.
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State Election Commissioner (SEC) Alka Tiwari exercised her franchise at ward number 40 in Ranchi.
"Polling is underway peacefully across the state and reports are so far good from every ULB. I would like to appeal to the voters to exercise their franchise," Tiwari told reporters.
Prasad said the elections are underway for the posts of mayor and chairperson in 48 ULBs, and councillors in 1,042 wards across nine municipal corporations, 20 nagar parishads and 19 nagar panchayats.
As many as 562 candidates, including 235 women, are in the fray for the posts of mayor and chairperson, while 5,562 candidates, including 2,727 women, are contesting the posts of ward councillors.
Prasad said adequate security arrangements have been made in all the booths.
A total of 4,307 polling booths have been set up for the elections. Of these, 896 have been identified as hyper-sensitive and 2,445 as sensitive.
