PM's aide Shaukat Tarin elected senator on KP seat

PESHAWAR: Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin has elected a senator on a vacant seat from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), ARY News reported on Monday.

PM’s aide Shaukat Tarin won the seat after securing 87 votes, according to the unofficial result. 122 out of 145 lawmakers in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly cast their votes in the Senate by-election.

Others candidates including Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) Zahir Shah and Awami National Party (ANP) Shaukat Jamal Ameerzada have secured 13 votes each in the by-election.

After being elected a senator, Shaukat Tarin expressed gratefulness to Allah Almighty for winning the by-polls. He also thanked Prime Minister Imran Khan, lawmakers and the nationals for showing confidence in him.

The newly-elected senator said that he will make efforts for KP to get hydel power profits and vowed that he will visit the province every month besides working efficiently for the citizens.

He said that the Naya Pakistan programme will be extended to the backward areas and 4 million people will be given interest-free loans for agriculture and housing purposes. Tarin said that Pakistan is not the only country hit by inflation while petrol, coal and edible oil prices rocketed across the globe.

Tarin expressed hopes that the commodities’ prices will go down in a few months. He added that Ehsaas Ration Program will benefit 130 million people across the country. The senator said that they will keep serving people and get victory in the next elections as well.

Ayub Afridi’s resignation

Earlier in November, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senator Ayub Afridi had resigned as a member of the upper house of Parliament to create a seat for Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance Shaukat Tarin in the Senate.

Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani has accepted his resignation. Sources had said that Ayub Afridi would likely be appointed as the adviser to the prime minister on overseas Pakistanis.

On October 18, the government had appointed Shaukat Tarin as the Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance, two days after his tenure as the finance minister ended. Tarin’s six-month tenure as the Minister of Finance expired on October 16.

Under the country’s constitution, a non-elected person can be appointed as a federal minister for a six-month period, during which he or she is bound to be elected to Parliament to continue the term.

Since Tarin could not get elected to Parliament, he was made the PM’s adviser on finance and revenue to continue leading the incumbent government’s economic team.