A member of the Indian National Congress, Shareef was the Leader of the Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly from 1983 until 1984.
However, in the 1967 Madras Legislative Assembly election, Shareef was defeated by Habibullah Baig, an independent candidate associated with the Muslim League.
[5] Shareef ran again in the 1980 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election, winning in Triplicane with 53% of the vote.
[5] In 1981, Sadiq Ali, the governor of Tamil Nadu, announced that Shareef was to be disqualified from the assembly due to his appointment as the Honorary Consul General of Turkey in Madras, as the Election Commission of India concluded that this meant he was in allegiance to a foreign state.
[7] Shareef served in this role until his defeat by A. K. A. Abdul Samad of the DMK in the 1984 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election.