Shaukat Tarin gets elected as senator ahead of mini-budget

• Tarin bags 87 votes to get elected as senator.
• He gets elected from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
• PTI's Ayub Afridi resigned from seat last month to pave way for Tarin.

PESHAWAR: Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin has been elected as a senator on Monday in the by-election for a general seat of the Senate, days before the mini-budget.

The election was held at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, which began at 9am and ended at 4pm.

Tarin bagged 87 votes, while according to KP Health Minister Taimur Khan Jhagra, four votes were rejected, while five lawmakers did not partake in the elections.

The seat fell vacant as last month, PTI’s Ayub Afridi had resigned from the Senate to make way for Tarin. As per the rules, when a seat falls vacant, the Election Commission of Pakistan is bound to hold elections on it within 30 days.

It should be noted that to get elected, a candidate needs more than 50% votes of the 145 members. The PTI has 94 members in the provincial assembly, the JUI-F has 15, ANP 12, PML-N 7, PPP five, the Balochistan Awami Party four, Jamaat-e-Islami three, and the PML-Q each have one member.

The government is set to present a Rs360 billion mini-budget before the Parliament later this week for withdrawal of General Sales Tax (GST) exemptions and slapping standard rate of 17% on import of essential consumable and industrial goods.

It was important for Tarin to get elected as a senator as according to the rules, only lawmakers can present the budget in the Parliament.

Tarin was appointed as the finance minister in April during a cabinet reshuffle, however, his stint had ended in October, and the government changed his portfolio to an advisor on finance, as a non-elected person can remain a federal minister for six months.