LAHORE, Sept 18: The Lahore Race Club (LRC) stewards’ elections for the year 2008-09 are scheduled to be held on Oct 26 with the contesting candidates having already started their campaign since Sept 16, the last date for the filing nomination papers.

It is a general impression that LRC chairman Tariq Aziz may not be a candidate for the chairmanship this time. Instead his group would support Choudhry Ahmad Saeed for the top slot. However, it all depends on who gets the majority votes.

Meanwhile, the forthcoming elections are generating a lot of interest unlike in the previous years when the 10-steward panel used to be elected unanimously.

In all, 16 LRC members, including 10 sitting stewards, have filed their nomination papers. Meanwhile, several active members told Dawn that they would be supporting only those members who visit the club regularly on race days and take a keen interest in the promotion of horse racing as a sport and a means to promote horse-breeding.

The candidates: Tariq Aziz, Arbab Nur Mohammad Khan, Syed Fakhar Imam, Malik Hamid Ali Noon, Sheikh Sajjad Hassan, Malik Ghulam Nabi, Mian Abdul Waheed, Masood Pervaiz, Syed Parvaiz Hussain Shah, Khawaja Mohammad Arif, Syeda Abida Hussain, Munir Dar, Abdul Qadir Khan Mamdot, Choudhry Ahmad Saeed, Mohammad Irfan Monnoo and Mohammad Nawaz Tiwana (the first 10 mentioned include the chairman sitting stewards).