SRINAGAR: With the Congress opting out of the contest for the "unsafe" Rajya Sabha seat in Jammu and Kashmir that was offered by its ally, the National Conference (NC), the ruling party on Monday fielded its fourth candidate to ensure a contest for Seat No. 4 — where the BJP candidate currently holds a numerical advantage.
Of the four Rajya Sabha seats falling vacant in J&K, the NC had initially fielded three candidates — Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan, Sajad Kichloo, and Shammi Oberoi — all of whom filed their nomination papers on Monday, the last day for filing nominations. The NC had left the fourth seat, considered “unsafe,” for the Congress. However, the Congress declined the offer on Sunday, citing the seat’s high risk.
The BJP also fielded three candidates — J&K BJP President Sat Pal Sharma, Ali Mohammad Mir, and Rakesh Mahajan — all of whom filed their nomination papers today.
With Congress pulling out of the race, it was expected that the NC would win three seats and the BJP one. However, to challenge BJP's advantage on Seat No. 4, the NC has now fielded its fourth candidate — young leader Imran Nabi Dar — to ensure a contest.
Senior NC leader and MLA Tanvir Sadiq described the Congress decision not to contest as “sad.”
“We appeal to all secular forces and secular MLAs to support our fourth candidate,” Sadiq said.
Voting for the four vacant Rajya Sabha seats will be held on October 24 between 9 am and 4 pm, with counting scheduled the same day at 5 pm.
The four seats became vacant in February 2021 after the terms of PDP MPs Mir Mohammad Fayaz and Nazir Ahmed Laway, BJP MP Shamsher Singh, and former Congress MP Ghulam Nabi Azad ended.
“Wait till October 24. We will ensure that all secular MLAs stay united. We have the support of independent MLA Shabir Kuchay. We are confident that we will win all four seats and that our candidates will represent the aspirations of the people of J&K in the Rajya Sabha,” Sadiq said.
“We believe we can win the fourth seat as well — and we will win it,” he added.
Meanwhile, J&K Congress leader Ghulam Ahmed Mir said that after the Election Commission of India announced polls for the four Rajya Sabha seats, the Congress had expressed interest in contesting from one of the safe seats.
“Talks were held at the highest level, and we conveyed to the NC that we wanted to contest from a safe seat. Seats No. 1, 2, and 3 were considered safe, but they offered us Seat No. 4,” he said.
Mir added that when it was time to discuss the modalities, there was no further communication from the NC. “Instead, they informed us that we could field our candidate from Seat No. 4. But we had already made it clear that we were not interested in contesting from that seat.”
As the NC declined to offer a safe seat, the Congress formally withdrew from the contest for the fourth seat.
According to Mir, most non-BJP MLAs in the Assembly do not want to align with the BJP. “The NC should have taken them into confidence before making any decisions. That was the Chief Minister’s responsibility — but it didn’t happen. That’s why Congress decided not to contest.”
It remains to be seen what strategy will be adopted by the PDP (3 MLAs), Peoples Conference (1 MLA), AIP (1 MLA), AAP (1 MLA, currently in jail), and an independent MLA.
While the NC is comfortably positioned to win three out of four seats, the BJP could clinch one seat if opposition MLAs do not rally behind the ruling alliance.
This Rajya Sabha election is a high-stakes contest for both the ruling NC and the opposition BJP, as both aim to consolidate their positions in the Union Territory.
