[1] Shariff was elected to his first term in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in a closely contested by-election in Calgary-McCall on April 20, 1995, defeating Liberal Jeet Shergill and future New Democratic Party president Anne McGrath by just a few hundred votes.
Kang defeated Shariff by 98 votes after returns in the advanced polls showed he had won overwhelming victories.
[3] Shariff and the Progressive Conservatives have challenged the vote in court claiming that the results of the advanced polling and special ballots was tainted.
[4] On January 21, 2012, Shariff secured the Progressive Conservative Party nomination for MLA in the riding Calgary-West, in what some observers described as a "shocking" victory over his leading rival candidate, Ken Hughes, the former Alberta Health Services Chairman who had resigned from his position to seek the nomination.
[5][6] Controversy would ensue as the nomination results were overturned by the party due to complaints and uncited irregularities.