The government has decided to get Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin elected as senator to ensure continuity and stability in markets.
It is learnt that the government would announce its plan for election of Tarin from Punjab against Senator Ishaq Dar’s seat, which has virtually remained vacant in the absence of the PML-N’s former finance minister. Dar has not taken oath because of his self-imposed exile in the UK.
The finance minister had a meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday where it was decided to immediately announce his election plans. The first priority is to get him elected on Dar’s seat, but a plan-B is also in place to get a seat vacated from KP for his election because of some uncertainties. The senator vacating the seat from KP would be compensated through some other political adjustment.
It is feared that Tarin’s election on Dar’s seat could be challenged in courts and stayed.
A formal announcement would be made much before the beginning of talks with the IMF on October 4 so that its negotiating team and management has clarity of direction and certainty that certain understandings, commitments and agreements would be honoured by the head of the economic team as he would be there to implement them.
It is also learnt that if the election process took some time, it would not matter as Tarin would be made an adviser for five days and then sworn in as senator and finance minister as well.
Tarin had been brushing aside uncertainty about his own future in the government and repeatedly said the prime minister had promised to make him a senator. The finance minister, whose constitutional tenure is ending on October 15, had also rejected uncertainty about his portfolio. “I am not going anywhere. I trust the prime minister who has promised to make me a senator,” he said last week.
The government on Sept 1 had promulgated the Elections (Third Amendment) Ordinance 2021, making it binding upon the elected members to take oath as legislator within 60 days. The amendment has been made to Section 72 of the Elections Act 2017.
According to the state-run news agency APP, under the amendment, members will have to take oath within 40 days of the promulgation of this ordinance.
“In case of failure to take oath within the mandatory period, seats of elected members to Senate, assembly and local government will become vacant,” it said.
Despite promulgation of the ordinance almost a month ago, its text has not been made available to the media.
