Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin was on Monday elected a senator from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on a seat vacated by PTI leader Muhammad Ayub Afridi.
The seat fell vacant as last month after Afridi resigned from the Senate to make way for Tarin ahead of the mini-budget which Tarin is expected to present. As per the rules, only elected representatives can present the budget in the Parliament.
During today's vote, held at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly from 9am to 4pm, Tarin bagged 87 votes.
Meanwhile, Shaukat Jamal Ameerzada of the Awami National Party and Zahir Shah of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl secured 13 votes each. PPP's Mohammad Saeed did not manage to secure a single vote, local media reported.
In order to get elected, a candidate must poll in more than 50% votes of the 145 members. The PTI has 94 members in the provincial assembly, the JUI-F has 15, ANP 12, PML-N 7, PPP five, the Balochistan Awami Party four, Jamaat-e-Islami three, and the PML-Q one member.
The government is expected to present a Rs360 billion mini-budget before the Parliament later this week for withdrawal of General Sales Tax (GST) exemptions and applying a standard rate of 17% on import of essential consumable and industrial goods.
Speaking to the media in Peshawar after his election, Tarin said that he will focus on the the province's financial and economic problems.