HARIPUR, Oct 1: With only four days left for polling in the third phase of local body elections, campaigning for Haripur tehsil nazim’s slot has gained momentum.

The candidates for the seats of tehsil nazim and reserved seats of women, peasants/workers and minority communities are busy in visiting councillors and union council nazims and naib nazims round the clock.

For Haripur tehsil nazim seat there are eight contestants in the race prominent among them are the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz)’s Sardar Mushtaq Khan, former tehsil nazim Iftekhar Ahmad Khan, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl)’s Mati-ur-Rehman Qasmi, Jamaat Islami’s Syed Shabir Ahmad Kakakhel and Sardar Mumtaz advocate.

The observers believe that Sardar Mushtaq, a former provincial minister, has an edge over his rivals, being the scion of one the biggest clans of Haripur.

However, owing to differences within his family and, particularly, opposition from retired justice Sardar Fakhr-i-Alam Khan, he may be given tough time by Iftekhar Ahmad, who has the support of Gohar Ayub and Minister of State for Finance Omar Ayub Khan.

Observers believe that Sardar Mushtaq could win if his party and Omer Ayub’s cousin Yousuf Ayub do not ditch him.

Mati-ur-Rehman claims to have the support of the members of six northern union councils across the River Dor while he is backed by Provincial Minister Akhtar Nawaz Khan and Pir Syed Alamzeb Shah.

According to insiders, the members of these six UCs belonging to the Dor Par Ittehad had taken an oath to back Mr Qasmi but many believe that several of the Ittehad members have deserted the alliance and clandestinely assured other candidates of getting their votes.

The fourth candidate, the JI district chief, Shabir Ahmed, has succeeded in broadening his support base to some extent over the past two weeks.

However, his non-Hazarawal origin and division within the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal could have negative impact on his vote bank.

For the tehsil council, there are 28 candidates for 12 reserved seats for women, 30 for two seats of peasants/workers and four for a single minority seat.

For Ghazi tehsil council, three candidates are in the race for the seat of tehsil nazim, three others for a single seat of peasants/workers and five for three seats of women.

Aslam Hayat Khan, a PML-backed candidate for the tehsil nazim’s post is, according to observers, in a better position. Aslam Hayat had lost to Sahibzada Qasim Shah, the nephew of Pir Sabir Shah, in the contest for Ghazi tehsil nazim’s slot last time.

This time PML deputy parliamentary leader in the NWFP Assembly Faisal Zaman and his multimillionaire uncle Abdul Rehman are supporting Mr Hayat against PML-N candidate Azar Mumtaz Khan.

This group enjoys command over the members of five out of eight UCs of the tehsil and is believed to be able to turn the table on the PML-N candidate.