FAISALABAD, Sept 28: Electioneering for top slots of the city district and its eight towns has picked up in rural and urban areas. ARD-nominated candidate Rana Zahid Tauseef, former MNA and brother of sitting PML-N MNA Rana Asif Tauseef, is reportedly giving a tough time to PML nominee MNA Ghulam Rasool Sahi, the brother of Punjab Assembly Speaker Muhammad Afzal Sahi, for the district nazim slot.

The decision of the ruling party to ignore former district nazim Zahid Nazir as well as his younger brother MNA Asim Nazir for the second term has become a talk of the town. The Nazir family belongs to the Arain clan and councillors and nazims of this biradri are openly announcing their support for the opposition hopeful instead of Mr.Sahi.

Rana Zahid Tauseef is fully exploiting this situation to get support of the Arians through his personal links.

The ruling party nominees for all the eight towns have been allotted ‘Huqqa’ symbol and the ARD-backed candidates ‘eagle.’

For Lyallpur town nazim, the ruling party has nominated a young politician, Rana Zahid Mehmood, while the opposition parties have fielded former UC nazim Zafar Iqbal Nagra. Both the candidates are claiming maximum support of their voters.

Sajjad Haider Cheema, son of former city tehsil nazim Mumtaz Ali Cheema and nephew of Federal Textile Minister Mushtaq Ali Cheema, is the government-backed nominee for Iqbal Town. However, the opposition parties have fielded PML-N activist Khalid Saeed Gill, a close associate of former PML-N MNA Chaudhry Sher Ali.

An interesting contest is expected in Jinnah town as the ruling PML has fielded a youngster, Adnan Tariq Pervaiz, son of Lt-Gen Tariq Pervaiz (retired). The government-supported candidate is a nephew of PML-N MNA Raja Nadir Pervaiz. To counter Mr Adnan, the opposition parties have fielded Shahzad Malik, brother of PML-N MPA Nawaz Malik.

For Madina town nazim, the ruling party has nominated Chaudhry Ali Akhtar Khan, younger brother of Punjab Minister Chaudhry Zaheeruddin Khan. However, the PML-N and PPP have fielded Rana Zulfiqar Ali, a PPP activist, claiming to have direct connections with Benazir Bhutto.

For Samundri town nazim, the opposition parties have fielded a strong candidate, Rana Farooq Saeed Khan, who had bagged the same seat in 2001 local polls. Later, he had resigned and contested the National Assembly seat but could not win. The ruling party had introduced a newcomer, Shah Nawaz, whose father, Abdul Hameed, had contested the previous LG election for tehsil nazim but was defeated by Rana Farooq Saeed.

In Jaranwala town, a triangular contest is expected among former provincial minister Chaudhry Muhammad Akram of the opposition, Muneer Ahmed, cousin of Federal Law Minister Wasi Zafar and ex-tehsil nazim Rana Abdul Rehman (independent).

The Chak Jhumra town is a stronghold of the Afzal Sahi family and one-sided election is expected here.

The ruling party has nominated former tehsil nazim Fawad Ahmed Cheema, a close friend of the Sahi family, and the opposition fielded Dr. Jawed Iqbal.

For Tandlianwala town nazim, the ruling party has nominated ex-tehsil nazim Ali Gohar Baloch, younger brother of MNA Rajab Ali Baloch, and the ARD has fielded Chaudhry Muneer Ahmed.

The MMA has fielded Sardar Zafar Husain for the district nazim slot and other activists for eight towns. The religious alliance has won a good number of seats in different areas, but is not in a position to bag any of towns top slots.