The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has replaced Mian Aslam Iqbal with Rana Aftab Ahmad Khan as the candidate for the chief minister of Punjab, a party leader has said.

“As the police of the whole Punjab are present at the Punjab Assembly to arrest our CM candidate Aslam Iqbal, the party leadership in consultation with Mr Iqbal has decided to nominate Rana Aftab Ahmad Khan for the CM slot,” Hammad Azhar said in a post on X.

“Rana Aftab is the senior most member of the PA who in the past got elected PA member five times.”

The decision comes as Iqbal has been nominated in several cases related to the May 9 riots.

The election for the CM office between Maryam Nawaz and Aftab Khan would be conducted on Monday at 11am, according to the schedule issued on Sunday.

It added that the candidates can submit the nomination papers by Sunday 5pm.

It merits here to mention that independent candidates backed by the PTI joined the Sunni Ittehad Council earlier this week to secure the reserved seats.

Although the decision was announced by Azhar, Khan would be the SIC’s candidate in the assembly.

If elected, Maryam Nawaz would be the first woman chief minister of the province. She took oath as a member of the provincial assembly on Feb 23.