GUJRANWALA, Sept 17: The PML-N nominee for by-election to Punjab Assembly constituency PP-93 withdrew his nomination paper on Friday following a decision of ARD leaders who fielded a PPP aspirant on Thursday night.

Reports said PPP chief Makhdoom Amin Fahim and PML-N's Zafar Iqbal Jhagra discussed the issue and directed provincial bodies to resolve it. The provincial heads of the PML-N and the PPP, Zulfiqar Khosa and Qasim Zia, held a meeting with city leaders and decided to field Tariq Gujjar of the PPP as the ARD nominee.

PML-N candidate Raza Hamid, the son of former MPA S. A. Hameed, withdrew his papers later. Engineer Ashraf Butt, the son of former mayor Aslam Butt is the ruling PML nominee while Maulana Ashraf Jalali is the MMA candidate.

There are seven candidates in the field: They are; Ashraf Jalali (MMA), Engineer Ashraf Butt (PML), Tariq Gujjar (ARD) and Muhammad Azeem, Naeem Ahmad Chaudhry, Advocate Mian Tariq and Babu Abdullah (independents). The seat fell vacant due to the death of MMA MPA Mufti Ghulam Farid Hazarvi.