The Ulster Unionist MP, Mr John Taylor, could be facing an internal party challenge for his Strangford seat at next year's Westminster elections, according to reports in a Belfast newspaper.
UUP constituency association members are reported to have received two applications in sealed envelopes.
The association secretary, Mr Jim Kerr, yesterday said he had no comment to make, but local party sources described the report in the Belfast Telegraph as "pretty accurate". The challenger to Mr Taylor is believed to be Mr Jim Hamilton, the local UUP association chairman.
Mr Hamilton could not be contacted last night, but he is said to have expressed his intention to party colleagues to challenge Mr Taylor on several occasions in the past.
Mr Taylor is quoted as welcoming the challenge saying it was the hallmark of a truly democratic party. Association officials are due to meet next week to examine the applications against a set of criteria, but a final decision is not expected to be taken until December.
A local party source said while some party members were not happy with Mr Taylor's "maverick conduct", he would probably have won over the association again by the time the selection took place.
"He is a charismatic politician and an excellent constituency MP. Nonetheless, all challenges are healthy," the source told The Irish Times.
The contest between the sitting MP and his challenger could become "intriguing" if Mr Hamilton decided to take an anti-Agreement stance, the source added.
Mr Taylor beat his closest rival, the DUP's Ms Iris Robinson, by almost 6,000 votes in the 1997 Westminster elections.
He threatened to resign from the UUP assembly group last year if the party shifted its "no guns, no government" position on decommissioning.