Asad Ashraf (; born 21 June 1963) is a Pakistani politician who has been a member of the

Senate of Pakistan Senate of Pakistan or Aiwān-e-Bālā Pākistān ( ur, , , literally "Pakistan upper house"), is the upper legislative chamber of the bicameral legislature of Pakistan, and together with the National Assembly makes up the Parliament of Pakista ...

, since March 2018. Previously he had been a Member of the Provincial Assembly of Punjab from 2002 to 2013.

Early life and education

He was born on 21 June 1963 in Lahore. He earned the degree of MBBS from

Allama Iqbal Medical College Allama Iqbal Medical College ( ur, ) is a public medical school in Lahore, widely regarded as one of the best medical institutions in Pakistan. Established in 1975, it is a public school of medicine, nursing and allied health sciences located ...

in 1986 and did his PgDip in Cardiology from National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Karachi in 1994.

Political career

He joined

Pakistan Muslim League (N) The Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) ( ur, , translit=Pākistān Muslim Līg (Nūn) PML(N) or PML-N) is a Centre-right politics, centre-right and Liberal conservatism, liberal conservative political party in Pakistan. Alongside the Pakistan Teh ...

(PML-N) in 1996 after the assassination of his brother, Javed Ashraf who was a member of the PML-N. He had been Advisor to the Chief Minister of Punjab Shehbaz Sharif from 1997 to 1999. He was elected to the Provincial Assembly of Punjab as a candidate of PML-N from Constituency PP-138 (Lahore-II) in 2002 Pakistani general election. He received 10,651 votes and defeated a candidate of

Pakistan Muslim League (Q) The Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid e Azam Group) ur, ; ''Pākistān Muslim Līg (Qāf)'', Acronyms: PML(Q), PML-Q, PMLQ, "Q League") is a Conservative nationalist political party in Pakistan. As of the 2018 parliamentary election, it has a re ...

(PML-Q). During his tenure as Member of the Punjab Assembly, he remained deputy parliamentary leader of PML-N in the Punjab Assembly. He was re-elected to the Provincial Assembly of Punjab as a candidate of PML-N from Constituency PP-138 (Lahore-II) in

2008 Pakistani general election 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...

. He received 19,552 votes and defeated a candidate of

Pakistan Peoples Party The Pakistan People's Party ( ur, , ; PPP) is a centre-left, social-democratic political party in Pakistan. It is currently the third largest party in the National Assembly and second largest in the Senate of Pakistan. The party was founded ...

. He ran for the seat of the Provincial Assembly of Punjab as an independent candidate Constituency PP-138 (Lahore-II) in

2013 Pakistani general election General elections were held in Pakistan on Saturday 11 May 2013 to elect the members of the 14th National Assembly and the four Provincial Assemblies. The three major parties were the Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML-N) led by Nawaz Sharif, t ...

, but was unsuccessful. He received 12 votes and lost the seat to Ghazali Saleem Butt. In the same election, he ran for the seat of the National Assembly as an independent candidate from Constituency NA-118 (Lahore-I) but was unsuccessful. He received 16 votes and lost the seat to Muhammad Riaz Malik. Ashraf was elected to the

from

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

general seat as an independent candidate in by-election held on 1 March 2018. He received 298 votes against a candidate of

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI; ur, , ) is a political party in Pakistan. It was founded in 1996 by Pakistani cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, who served as the country's prime minister from 2018 to 2022. The PTI is one of the thre ...

who secured 38 votes. Ashraf was backed by PML-N which initially nominated him, but he had to run in the polls independently after the Election Commission of Pakistan declared his nomination papers void following the disqualification of

Nawaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (Urdu, Punjabi language, Punjabi: ; born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani businessman and politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms. He is the longest-serving prime ...

by the Supreme Court of Pakistan. He took oath as Senator on 12 March 2018.

References

Living people Pakistani senators (14th Parliament) Pakistan Muslim League (N) politicians 1963 births Punjab MPAs 2002–2007 Punjab MPAs 2008–2013 {{PunjabPK-MPA-stub