Advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin was elected senator from a seat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Monday.
He contested election as a candidate of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and won with 87 votes from the KP Assembly.
According to Taimur Jhagra, the health minister of the province, four votes were rejected, while five lawmakers were absent during the elections.
Tarin will now be able to work as the federal minister on finance and preside over key government and parliamentary meetings.
At a media briefing in Peshawar after his success, he promised to end all power-related woes in the province. “Our people here have suffered a lot. Now that I’m the senator, you can expect me to work for you.”
He promised to provide interest-free loans in all sectors, especially agriculture, to more than four million families in backward areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Tarin said that inflation is a worldwide problem and assured prices will come down next year.
In October, the government had to change the status of Shaukat Tarin from that of a federal minister to advisor to PM, as his six-month tenure as the federal minister came to an end.
According to the Constitution, a non-elected person can work as a federal minister for only six months. After that, the person needs to be elected either a member of the National Assembly or the Senate to continue working as the minister.
Last month, PTI’s senator from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ayub Afridi resigned from his seat to make way for Tarin.
In return, Ayub has been made PM’s advisor on overseas Pakistanis and human resource development.
