Degel HaTorah party officials on Saturday night claimed that MKs Moshe Gafni and Uri Maklev will not be included on the party's slate in the upcoming elections.
According to those officials, the rabbis have already made a decision on the matter, and the move is expected to be announced within the next 24 hours.
If the move goes ahead, it would bring Gafni's lengthy Knesset career to an end, 38 years after he was first elected. Maklev, also one of Degel HaTorah's veteran representatives in the Knesset, is likewise expected to be left off the slate, according to the officials.
Gafni and Maklev have attempted in recent days to fight the decision to remove them from the Knesset. Despite their efforts, the sources claim that the decision has already been made.
MK Ya'akov Asher is expected to replace Gafni as head of Degel HaTorah. Asher is a confidant of party official David Shapira, and Degel HaTorah sources claim that Shapira is behind the move to replace Gafni and Maklev.
"In a reality in which there is genuine concern regarding the ability to motivate voters to go to the polls, there is an urgent need to refresh the ranks and present new leadership," sources in the haredi political establishment told Arutz Sheva - Israel National News.
Meanwhile, the Lithuanian haredi-rabbis are examining the possibility of bringing new figures into the upper ranks of national politics.
Among the prominent names under consideration is Yehuda Weissfish, chairman of Ihud Bnei Hayeshivot and an associate of Rabbi Moshe Hillel Hirsch, who may receive a prominent and realistic position on the slate.
The possibility of bringing in several senior figures from local government and public life is also being considered. Among those under consideration are Bnei Brak Deputy Mayor Menachem Shapira and Modi'in Illit Mayor Yaakov Gutterman.