 He was re-elected to the National Assembly as a candidate of PTI from Constituency NA-177 (Rahim Yar Khan-III) in 2018 Pakistani general election.On 18 August, Imran Khan formally announced his federal cabinet structure and Bakhtiar was named as Minister for Water Resources.However, on 20 August 2018, he was sworn in as Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms in the federal cabinet of Prime Minister Imran Khan.