LAHORE, Dec 25: The PML-Q has decided to formally introduce former Punjab chief minister Pervaiz Elahi as party’s candidate for the office of prime minister by arranging his visits to the country instead of confining him to the province only.

Punjab Secretary-General Chaudhry Zaheeruddin said Pervaiz would embark upon a mass-contact drive in all the provinces as a prime minister candidate and the schedule of his visits was being finalised.

The provincial PML-Q chiefs had been formally informed of the decision and directed to welcome him accordingly, the former minister told newsmen here on Tuesday.

“Pervaiz is a consensus candidate of the party for the slot,” he claimed.

Zaheer’s comments came a day after former foreign minister Khusheed Kasuri told newsmen here on Monday that the party was yet to reach a consensus over prime minister’s nominee. Kasuri, it is stated, is also an aspirant for the coveted slot.

Meanwhile, Jamaat-i-Islami Deputy Secretary-General Farid Piracha has alleged that thousands of official vehicles are being used in the election campaign of the PML-Q.

In a statement on Tuesday, he said official teams, comprising retired officers of the special services, had been attached with the former ministers and other PML-Q candidates (to promote them as establishment’s men), while new development projects were being initiated on their directions.

He regretted that the Election Commission was ignoring violations of its code virtually converting itself into a ‘selection commission’.

Appealing to the masses for boycott of the polls, he said the parties taking part in the election were awakening to the fact that the election process was in the control of President Musharraf and the establishment and not the masses and democratic forces.