Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin on Thursday filed his nomination papers for a vacant Senate seat from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Last month, PTI's Muhammad Ayub Afridi submitted his resignation as member of the upper house to Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani and vacated his seat. According to media reports, the government wanted to get Tarin elected to Senate on the seat vacated by Afridi to ensure he can become the finance minister again.
Tarin's lawyer filed the nomination papers at the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) Peshawar Office. Provincial ministers Taimur Saleem Jhagra and Kamran Khan Bangash were Tarin's proposer and seconder, respectively.
Speaking to the media, Bangash said that all kinds of people lived in the province, adding that Tarin's "roots" were from KP. "People from other political parties have also gotten Senate tickets from KP," he said.
He added that Tarin's vote was registered in Mardan and that his wife also belonged to the province.
Polling for the vacant Senate seat will be held in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Dec 20. As per the schedule, the candidates will file their nomination papers with the returning officer from Nov 30 till Dec 2, while the names of the nominated candidates will be published on Dec 3.
