ISLAMABAD – The federal government has decided to get Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin, an unelected member of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s cabinet, elected as senator.
The move shows the intention of the government to secure the position of Tarin, who is the fourth finance minister in two years.
Local media reports said that Shaukat Tarin, who took oath in April this year to replace Hammad Azhar, will be elected from Punjab or Khyber Paktunkhwa, the provinces where the PTI enjoys majority.
The prime minister is empowered to appoint an unelected individual as a minister for six months under Article 91(9) of the Constitution.
However, the Constitution states that at the end of six months, that individual will “cease to be a minister and shall not before the dissolution of that Assembly be again appointed a minister; unless he is elected as a member of that Assembly.”
Previously, the government had attempted to get former Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh elected as senator since he was also unelected member of the cabinet. But, he lost the key seat to the PPP leader Yousaf Raza Gillani.
Later, the government had removed him from the post in March, appointed Azhar as new finance minister.
