Voting gets underway for by-election on vacant Senate seat

PESHAWAR: Voting for by-election on a general seat of the Senate from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) got underway in the provincial legislature’s old hall.

According to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the polling began at 9am and will continue till 4pm without any break. As many as 145 lawmakers of the KP Assembly will exercise their right to elect a member of the upper house of Parliament.

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance Shaukat Tarin is the strongest contender for the slot as the ruling PTI enjoys majority in the provincial assembly.

The JUI-F’s Tahir Shah, ANP’s Shaukat Amirzada, and PPP’s Malik Saeed are also in the run for the seat.

The Senate seat fell vacant after Ayub Afridi resigned as a member of the upper house. He stepped down on the directives of Prime Minister Imran Khan to create a seat for Shaukat Tarin in the Senate.

On Oct 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.