SIALKOT, Aug 30: The provincial PML-Q leadership has changed the party’s candidate for the post of Sialkot district Naib Nazim.

Sources said the decision to give the PML-Q ticket to Arsal Waqar Ahmad Ghuman instead of Chaudhry Imran Othi was taken at a meeting of Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi with the district Nazim, Sialkot-based PML-Q MNAs, MPAs and other like-minded politicians at the CM House in Lahore.

Kotli (Sambrial)-based Mr Ghuman is a close relative of the chief minister.

Talking to newsmen here on Saturday, Mr Ghuman claimed that he enjoyed the support of Sialkot-based National Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Ameer Hussain, parliamentarians Umar Ahmad Ghuman, Ali Asjad Malhi and Zahid Hamid, Sialkot-based provincial ministers Mohammad Ajmal Cheema and Syed Akhtar Hussain Rizvi and Sialkot’s “king-maker” Variyo family’s head Chaudhry Akhtar Variyo.

Local analysts were of the view that the electoral alliance between ARD and MMA at the local level had forced PML-Q’s provincial leadership to bring a stronger candidate against ARD-MMA’s Malik Ashraf.

They said that Daska Tehsil Nazim Chaudhry Ejaz Ahmad Cheema had played a key role in the nomination of Mr Othi as the PML-Q candidate for the Sialkot district Naib Nazim slot. However, they alleged, Mr Cheema had “done nothing” for Daska’s uplift. His alleged unpopularity had weakened the political position of Mr Othi.

A tough contest is expected between Mr Ghuman and Malik Ashraf. District bar association president Chaudhry Munawar Warraich is also in a strong position.