GUJAR KHAN: The race for the offices of Gujar Khan Municipal Committee chairman and vice chairman took an interesting turn when a pro-Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) politician, Raja Tahir Akbar Kiani revealed at a dinner party that he had the support of nine councillors.

There are a total of 19 ward councillors and the party which has support from 10 councillors will elect the chairman and vice chairman.

Earlier, PML-N had claimed nine councillors-elect-- seven independents, two from PTI and one from PPP --were supporting them.

Raja Tahir Kiani claims to have secured support of the two PTI councillors, Shahzada Khan and Qari Aftab, and the PPP councillor, Iftikhar Wazir. He also claimed that six of the independents were also on board and that if the independent councillor, Malik Hamid, also supports them, the PML-Q will be able to win the election for the chairman and vice chairman. Mr Kianai assured that both the chairman and vice chairman would be nominated after deliberations and in the interests of Gujar Khan.

According to insiders, there are so far more than two contenders for both seats and Raja Tahir is trying to reach a consensus on the nominations.

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2015