Although four candidates are seeking nomination for the first-ever mayor of Islamabad, former bureaucrat Saeed Mehdi is said to be the strongest candidate for the slot. Sources said that Ashraf Gujja and Anjum Aqeel, former ruling party's members as well as Chaudhary Jaffer Iqbal, were the other three candidates vying for the office of mayor. However, a final decision in this regard would be taken by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
They said that a meeting was expected to be held at the Prime Minister Office on December 11 (Friday) to decide about the mayor of federal capital, however, the meeting had not taken place till filing of this story due to the Prime Minister's busy schedule. The sources said that the race for the slot of mayor began soon after the State Minister for Capital Administration Development Division (CAAD), who was also in-charge of local bodies' election in federal capital, announced that he had managed to get the support of nine independent elected chairmen.
On Monday, Tariq Fazal Chaudhry stated at a news conference that nine independent chairmen had decided to join the ruling party. "We have now 29 votes against 26 votes required for the slot of mayor," he added. The sources maintained that the government might have offered deputy mayor's slot to the independent candidates to get their support.
They further revealed that the former member national assembly of the ruling party from federal capital Anjum Aqeel met with the senior leaders of the party including secretary general Zafar Iqbal Jehagra, Speaker National Assembly Ayaz Sadiq, federal minister Khwaja Asif, Saad Rafique and Pervez Rashid to solicit their support. However his chance to become mayor appeared to be remote as the Prime Minister was looking for someone suitable to represent the federal capital, frequently visited by the world leaders. "That is the reason why former bureaucrat Saeed Mehdi is considered the favourite for the slot of Islamabad mayor," they added.
Prime Minister's political secretary Dr Asif Kirmani may also be a potential candidate for the slot. The ruling party won 20 out of 50 seats and needed the support of six chairmen to get the party's first ever mayor elected in the federal capital. Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaaf won 16 seats and 14 chairmen were elected independently, as per Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). The PML-N claims support of independent chairmen Syed Pir Adil Gilani, Adil Aziz Qazi, Azhar Mahmood, Chaudhry Nadeem, Syed Ibrar Hussain Shah, Chaudhry Naeem Gujar, Haji Gulfraz, Malik Rizwan and Azam Khan.