Chandigarh, May 17 -- Advocate Rohit Sud was elected the president of the Punjab and Haryana high court Bar association on Friday night. He defeated his rival Parminder Singh Sekhon by 96 votes. Nearly 4,250 advocates cast their votes between 9.30am and 4pm, while counting began later in the evening. A third-generation lawyer, 43-year-old Sud is the nephew of retired justice NK Sood and hails from Jalandhar, where his father works as a chartered accountant. His grandfather, DD Sud, was also a lawyer. Sud served as the Bar secretary in 2019-20 and as an executive member in 2008-09. Among the other office-bearers, Ashish Bishnoi was elected vice-president after defeating Sunil Agnihotri by 510 votes. Parampreet Singh Bajwa won the secretary's post by a margin of 922 votes over Namit Khurana. For the post of joint secretary, Kirandeep Kaur defeated Nidhi by 539 votes, while Ashish Rana became treasurer after polling 112 votes more than Satnam Singh. Sud, who replaces Sartej Narula, comes at a time when the high court administration is in the process of implementing a holistic development plan, adding at least 30 courts to the existing 68 in a proposed new block, along with several other facilities. Outlining his priorities, Sud said he would work for the implementation of the Advocates Protection Act, greater transparency and efficiency in the listing of cases, and development of a residential society on 15 acres in Sarangpur, where the UT administration had proposed a new high court complex. He added his other priorities include creating more space for chambers and sitting areas for lawyers at the high court....