ISLAMABAD: As the whole country was kept guessing for the new premier, The Pakistan People's Party has chosen Raja Pervez Ashraf as candidate for the slot of prime minister, dropping Makhdoom Shahabuddin hours after a local court issued non-bailable arrest warrants for his alleged involvement in Ephedrine case.

According to highly placed sources, name of Raja Pervez Ashraf has been finalized by the PPP top leadership.

A meeting of the coalition partners has also been convened to take them on board the previous day.

The lower house of parliament is scheduled to meet at 1230 GMT to elect a new premier in a bid to end a political crisis sparked by the Supreme Court's dismissal of premier Yousuf Raza Gilani for contempt.

The chaos is the culmination of a standoff between the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) government, dogged by corruption allegations, and the judiciary, accused of working behind the scenes with the military and the political opposition.

"Raja Pervez Ashraf is our candidate," senior party official Syed Khurshid Shah told a news conference, saying that the government was heading towards an election. Its five-year mandate expires in early 2013.

"This is election year and we are going towards elections," Shah said, referring to the national assembly year, which starts in June.

"If we have committed some mistakes or did not fulfill our manifesto, then the decision should be left to the people of Pakistan."

Ashraf, who served as information technology minister until Tuesday, was originally named as a "cover" candidate when President Asif Ali Zardari picked textiles minister Makhdoom Shahabuddinas his preferred choice.

Dogged by allegations of corruption from his tenure as water and power minister, his appointment is likely to prove controversial.

Some analysts had expected the party to favour information minister Qamar Zaman Kaira, who is considered to have more political clout and a clean record.

On Thursday, an anti-narcotics court took the unusual step of issuing an arrest warrant for Shahabuddin over a drugs scandal.

Shahabuddin, was briefly finance minister during the 1993-1996 premiership of Benazir Bhutto, Zardari's wife, who was assassinated in 2007.

But it was his stint as health minister that led to his arrest warrant over the alleged illegal import of a drug in 2010.

Judge Shafqatullah Khan also issued a warrant for Ali Musa Gilani, son of the outgoing premier over the same scandal.

An anti-narcotics investigator told the court in Rawalpindi, the headquarters of the army, that evidence given by Shahabuddin and Gilani junior had "not convinced" investigators of their innocence.

Political analyst Hasan Askari said suspicion would fall on the military for being behind the warrant, saying it was unusual for junior courts to intervene against senior politicians without being pushed.

"It appears that the army wants to wind up the present government but without actually coming into power," Askari told AFP.

Four other politicians, including two from the opposition, are also standing in what is considered a largely symbolic move as the PPP leads a majority in the assembly.

Gilani, who became prime minister after the PPP won elections in 2008 ending nearly a decade of military rule, was dismissed for refusing to ask Swiss authorities to reopen corruption cases against Zardari.

The new premier will face the same pressure to write to the Swiss, sparking speculation that elections due early next year could be brought forward.

There has been criticism of the judges' interference but other analysts pointed out the change of prime minister will have little tangible effect on policy or the longevity of the government.

Gilani's disqualification was the culmination of a showdown between the judiciary led by a popular chief justice, and a weak, ineffective government that critics say has been politicised at best, or vendetta-driven at worst.

The cases against Zardari date to the 1990s, when he and Bhutto are suspected of using Swiss banks to launder $12 million allegedly paid in bribes by companies seeking customs contracts.

The Swiss shelved the cases in 2008 when Zardari became president.