Polling underway for by-election on vacant Senate seat in KP

Peshawar: Polling is underway for by-election on a general seat of the Senate from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) in the provincial legislature’s old hall on Monday.

According to the details, the polling has started at 9am and will continue till 4pm where 145 lawmakers of the KP Assembly are to exercise their right to vote to elect a member for Senate.

It is pertinent to mention here that 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.

The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) enjoys majoring in the house as Prime Minister’s Adviser on Finance Shaukat Tarin is considered as the strongest contender for the slot compared to other candidates.

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

PTI has 96 members in the 145-strong provincial assembly and therefore, defeating Shaukat Tarin in the by-election is an uphill task for the opposition parties.

Tarin was appointed the federal finance minister on Apr 16, 2021, and served against that post for six months. As he was not a parliamentarian, he couldn’t hold that office beyond six months.

He had to relinquish that post prompting the prime minister to appoint him his adviser on finance and revenue.