In Gujranwala, PML-Q nominee Sajjad Ahmed, brother of provincial transport minister Chaudhry Shamshad Ahmed, was elected Kamoki tehsil nazim.

He defeated his strong rival Rana Muhammad Asif, nominee of prime minister’s political adviser Rana Nazir Ahmed Khan. He got 305 votes against his rival’s 182.

Provincial food minister Chaudhry Muhammad Iqbal, PML-Q district president and MNA Chaudhry Shahid Akram Binder and PPP district president and former MNA Chaudhry Abdullah Virk were supporting Sajjad Ahmed.

While PML-J chief and MNA Chaudhry Hamid Nasir Chattha, district nazim Fiaz Ahmed Chattha, Punjab chief minister adviser Dr Sohail Zafar Cheema and former MPA Chaudhry Zafarullah Cheema were backing Rana Muhammad Asif.

In Bahawalpur, Malik Zahid Mehmood Channar, the candidate of Grand National Alliance comprising Bahawalpur Ittehad and District Nazim group, was elected Naib Nazim.

He secured 454 votes out of total 706, defeating Sahibzada Munawar Abbasi of ARD and MMA minus JI and Sohail Pashi (ind).

Three votes were rejected while three councillors, who got the ballot papers, did not cast their votes and mysteriously slipped away from the polling booth.

Raees Allah Bachaya, the government-backed candidate, was elected Kulab union council Nazim of Ahmedpur East tehsil, Bahawalpur district.

He bagged 12 votes out of 20 while the opposition group boycotted the election.

The seat fell vacant in Oct 2003, when Makhdum Syed Ali Hassan Gilani, now federal parliamentary secretary, resigned as the UC Nazim to contest the NA elections.

In Sialkot, PML-Q’s Variyo-family backed candidate Arsal Waqar Ghuman, a close relative of the Punjab chief minister, won the election of Sialkot district Naib Nazim by knocking out ARD and MMA’s candidate Malik Muhammad Ashraf, SCCI vice-president.

Mr Ghuman clinched 1,713 votes while his main rival could secure only 431 votes. Remaining candidates — Chaudhry Imran Othi, Shaikh Nadeem Ali, Munawar Warraich and Sardar Anwar could not cross the double figures.

In Multan, Shaukat Hayat Bosan, the brother of state minister for food Sikandar Hayat Bosan, was elected Multan Saddar tehsil nazim.

Bosan polled 384 votes against his closest rival Imran Shaukat Khan’s 285. The third candidate, Lateef Ansar Lajpal, got only four votes.

The loser, Imran Shaukat, is the nephew of another PML-Q leader and MPA Ibraheem Khan.

The seat had been lying vacant since the resignation of Ahmed Mujtaba Gilani, the younger brother of PPP’s Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, to contest the Oct 10 general election last year. Gilani was defeated by Sikander Bosan on a national assembly seat.

Imran Shaukat was relatively a new entrant in the politics as compared to his rival Shaukat Bosan, who had been an MPA and could not contest the last general election due to the graduation condition.

The election remained peaceful except that only a woman was caught red-handed allegedly while trying to cast a fake vote. Both the main contestants, however, refused to own the lady, who according to reports, was under interrogation.

In Gujrat, candidates of PML-Q (Shujaat group) won the elections of district Naib Nazim and tehsil Nazim with a thumping majority.

Mian Arshad Hayat was elected district Naib Nazim by obtaining 1,521 votes while his opponent Chaudhry Irfan Safi, a joint candidate of MMA, PPP and PML-N, could get only 534 votes.

The newly-elected district Naib Nazim is the younger brother of former chief minister Mian Afzal Hayat.

Similarly, Chaudhry Saadat Nawaz Ajnala, the son of former MPA Chaudhry Nawaz Ajnala, was elected Gujrat tehsil Nazim by securing 810 votes while his rival candidate and former MNA Nawabzada Ghazanfar Gul of PPP bagged 379 votes.

In Faisalabad, although joint nominee of the PPP (Parliamentarians) and PML-N Gull Ahmed Mahota won the Samundri tehsil Nazim seat, yet re-election will be held as he could not secure 50 per cent votes.

He defeated in a close contest his rival Mazhar Ali Gill, a PML-Q candidate. In all, four candidates were in the race for top slot of Samundri tehsil.

The seat fell vacant after the resignation of Rana Farooq Saeed Khan, who had contested the general elections for NA seat on the PPP ticket, but lost.

Meanwhile, in a one-to-one contest, PML-Q nominee Maqsood Ahmed Butt won the Tandlianwala Naib Nazim seat by defeating PPP-backed candidate Sakhawat Imran Baloch.

The seat of Tandlianwala Naib Nazim fell vacant after the resignation of Ahmed Sher Wattoo who contested the election for the provincial assembly seat, but could not win. It may be mentioned that Raza Nasarullah Ghuman has already been elected unopposed Faisalabad district Naib Nazim. This seat fell vacant after the election of Muhammad Afzal Sahi as Punjab assembly speaker.

In Rahim Yar Khan, Syed Alamdar Hussain and Mian Usman Khalid, the panel supported by District Nazim Makhdoom Ahmed Mehmood, won the elections of tehsil nazim and naib nazim, respectively.

The winning panel secured 792 votes while their rival panel comprising PPP’s Mian Ijaz Aamir and PML-N’s Shabbir Warraich got 332 votes.

In Hafizabad, PML-Q candidate Rana Akbar Ali Bhatt was elected the district Naib Nazim.

There was a tough competition between PML-Q’s Bhatti group and the PML-N’s Tarar group. The candidate of the Bhatti group secured 409 votes while Haji Jamshed Abbas Theme of the Tarrar group managed to bag 385 votes.

This seat was vacated by Chaudhry Shaukat Ali Bhatti, now the Minister for Culture and Youth Affairs.

In Layyah, Malik Ghulam Farid Thind has won the district naib nazim seat by defeating his rival candidate Chaudhry Ishfaq Ahmed with a big margin of 172 votes.

Both the candidates claimed that they had the support of the PML-Q.

The winning candidate is a younger brother of MNA Malik Ghulam Haider Thind, who had the backing of PML-Q’s MNA Sardar Bahadar Ahmed, MPAs Malik Allah Bux Samtia, Maher Fazal Husain Sumra, Kahror Lal Esan tehsil nazim Syed Fiaz Husain Shah and Choubara tehsil nazim Qaiser Abbas Muggsi.