LAHORE, April 27: Rumours about the replacement of district and tehsil nazims by administrators on Wednesday further deepened uncertainty as to who would run local governments during their forthcoming elections. Nazims and officials from all over the province continued to approach the civil secretariat throughout the day to confirm whether the administrators were being appointed or not.

“We are telling every inquirer that there is no mention of administrators in the local government ordinance. And they can be appointed only after an amendment in the law. But still they are wary of our intentions,” a senior official said.

Some other officials said the question as to who would run the local governments during the election process was very important as this would determine their future shape. The presence of nazims, especially intending to contest the election would give them an upper hand over their competitors. And their replacement by administrators would place them among the common lot. So it was necessary for them to know what would be the state of affairs during the elections.