HARIPUR, Sept 29: A tough contest between the scions of two rival families, the Rajgans of Khanpur and the Tareens of Rehana, is expected for the seat of Haripur district nazim.

There are three candidates in the run for the district nazim seat — Dr Raja Amer Zaman, son of former federal minister Raja Sikandar Zaman, Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz)’s Yousuf Ayub Khan who is grandson of Field Marshal Ayub Khan and Ehjaz Ali Khan Durrani, a PPP (Sherpao) nominee.

Raja Amer who served as the district nazim during 2001-05 is the nominee of the Tameer-i-Haripur group, which has the support of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League’s MPAs Qazi Mohammad Asad Khan and Faisal Zaman.

Besides successfully dividing the PML, the Rajgans of Khanpur have managed to bag the support of former NWFP Assembly speaker Habib Ullah Tareen, the cousin of Gohar Ayub Khan, and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal’s provincial minister Akhtar Nawaz Khan.

Jamaat Islami-backed Al-Khidmat group, which has reportedly 45 to 50 votes, has not yet announced its support for Raja Amer, whose younger brother Raja Faisal Zaman is a provincial minister and member of the JI. But, the party is believed to have decided to clandestinely back Raja Amer against Yousuf Ayub.

Former provincial minister Yusuf Ayub has the support of PML-N provincial chief Per Sabir Shah, Minister of State for Finance Omar Ayub Khan and his father Gohar Ayub Khan.

When Omar Ayub announced support to his cousin (Yusuf Ayub) there were reports of pressure on both the father and the son from the PML high command to make Yusuf Ayub quit the PML-N.

However, Yusuf Ayub refused to desert the opposition party but according to his critics, Gohar Ayub, who is senior vice-president of the ruling PML, and his son were allowed to support Yusuf after they gave certain assurance on Yusuf Ayub’s behalf to their party.

On the other hand, the efforts of the senior Raja through his secret contacts with the Chaudhries of Gujrat to get his son elected is the talk of the town and the division among the PML MPs at district level is indicative of certain relaxation given to the Rajgan by the powers that be.

Both the main contenders, Raja Amer and Yusuf Ayub, seem to be commanding the support of 15 nazims each out of total 45.

However observers see most of the nazims jumping from one camp to other or exercising wait and see approach and ultimately deciding to cast votes in the favour of winning candidate.

It is expected that 30 to 40 votes would decide the winner from the neck to neck contest on October 6.

Meanwhile, the third candidate, Ehjaz Durrani, may bag the votes of those independent voters who are disappointed with the performance of both the families and resent their monopoly on the district politics.

But, according to analysts, he will face the same fate as that of late Omar Asghar Khan and others who despite assurances from certain groups opposed to the Tareens and the Rajgans were rejected by them as spoilers in earlier elections.