Born in 1949 and a dentist by profession, Arif Alvi is among the founding members of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). Even during his student years, Arif ur Rehman Alvi had an inclination towards politics. While studying at the De’Montmorency College of Dentistry in Lahore, he was an active member of student unions protesting against the then-President Gen. Ayub Khan. Later, in 1979, he decided to run for office as a candidate of the Jamaat-e-Islami, for a provincial constituency in Karachi, his hometown.
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The dentist tried his luck in the political arena again in 1996. That year, he joined the lesser-known and fledgeling political party lead by the cricket star, Imran Khan. Alvi ran for the seat of Provincial Assembly of Sindh as a candidate of PTI from constituency PS-114 (Karachi) in General Election 1997, however, he remained unsuccessful. He ran for the seat of Provincial Assembly of Sindh in General Election 2002 as a candidate of PTI from constituency PS-90 (Karachi-II) but remained unsuccessful. He secured only 1,276 votes in the poll. He served as the secretary general of PTI from 2006 to 2013.
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Alvi was elected as the member of the National Assembly of Pakistan for the first time in General Election 2013 on a PTI ticket from NA-250 constituency of Karachi. Alvi was the only PTI member to win a National Assembly seat from Sindh in the 2013 elections. In 2016, he was made the president of PTI Sindh chapter. He was re-elected to the National Assembly as a candidate of PTI from Constituency NA-247 (Karachi South-II) in General Election 2018. On September 4, members of the national and provincial assemblies voted Alvi as the President of Pakistan.
