Islamabad [Pakistan], June 8 (ANI): As the management committee headed by Najam Sethi enters its final two weeks of office, a leadership change at the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) may be in the offing. His old nemesis and former board chairman Zaka Ashraf is currently the front-runner to succeed him, reported ESPNCricinfo on Thursday.

Shahbaz Sharif, the prime minister of Pakistan, and Sethi met at his residence in Islamabad on June 7 to discuss the PCB's development during the previous five months. A few miles away, Ashraf met with Ehsan ur Rehman Mazari, the federal minister in charge of inter-provincial cooperation (IPC), who serves as a conduit between PCB and the government. Since the IPC is the ministry in Pakistan that deals with sports in the country, Mazari said Zaka had been proposed as the candidate to lead the PCB.

Sethi and Ashraf have a history of competing for the office of PCB chairman; in 2013 and 2014, they engaged in a legal dispute over it. When former prime minister Nawaz Sharif replaced Ashraf with Sethi, the matter was resolved. Currently, Ashraf is supported by the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), whereas Sethi is backed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). Both parties are a part of the coalition that has formed a government in the country.

"When this government was formed, it was decided that parties [in the alliance] who have respective ministries will have a say in naming the man for the respective job," Mazari said on Wednesday as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.

"Hence, IPC is with PPP, so we will have our man [in the PCB]. Also, Sethi's nomination [for the full term] is a conflict of interest as he is heading the management committee tasked to carry out elections but they are becoming a part of the process and getting them elected," he added.

Since Ramiz Raja was removed as chairman and the PCB's 2019 constitution was abandoned in December of last year, the management committee led by Sethi has been in charge of the board. The initial deadline for Sethi's committee to reestablish the 2014 PCB constitution and the regional and services structure in domestic cricket was 120 days. A mandate to establish a board of governors and choose a chairman was also issued to the committee.

Mickey Arthur serves as Pakistan's part-time director of cricket, while Sethi has played a crucial role in the selection of a coaching team that is primarily from abroad over the past four months.

The mission completion period for Sethi's committee was then extended by two months; this extension will expire on June 22.

Its most significant task was to hold elections in each of Pakistan's provinces. It required the PCB to establish a board of governors with 10 members, including two members directly selected by the PCB patron, the prime minister, and four of the 16 regional representatives, four representatives of services organisations. Each BoG member serves a three-year term, which is equal to one chairman term.

The process was nearly complete when the committee encountered legal issues as a result of objections made by many local clubs regarding the fairness of the voting procedure. At the crux of the controversy are three members of the management committee who operate from the PCB headquarters: Tanvir Ahmed, who was chosen president of the Larkana region; Gul Zada, from the Peshawar region; and Shakil Sheikh, who is running in Islamabad.

After the board is established, the prime minister will propose two choices, of which one will be chosen as PCB chairman through a vote among the board members. (ANI)