SRINAGAR: Polling for four vacant Rajya Sabha seats from Jammu and Kashmir, the first since the abrogation of Article 370, began on Friday at the J&K Legislative Assembly complex.
MLAs are casting their votes at three separate polling booths in the Assembly complex between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. The counting of votes will take place at 5 p.m.
The four Rajya Sabha seats fell vacant in February 2021 following the end of the terms of PDP MPs Mir Mohammad Fayaz and Nazir Ahmed Laway, BJP MP Shamsher Singh, and former Congress MP Ghulam Nabi Azad.
The National Conference (NC) has fielded four candidates, Choudhary Muhammad Ramzan, Shammi Oberoi, Sajad Kichloo, and Imran Nabi Dar, while the BJP has fielded three candidates for the four seats.
A day before polling, the NC received a crucial boost as its ally Congress and the opposition PDP announced their support for the ruling party to block the BJP, significantly improving the NC’s chances of sweeping all four seats.
J&K Congress president Tariq Hamid Karra said that despite grievances over the NC’s treatment of Congress as an ally, the party would support the NC in the larger national interest of countering the BJP.
“Keeping in view the larger cause and our fight with the BJP at the national level, we have decided not to be guided by the treatment meted out to us by the NC as an ally. We offer our six votes as open support to the NC for the larger cause,” Karra said after the party’s legislative meeting in Srinagar on Thursday.
He added that all six Congress legislators had been directed to vote for the NC, with a party whip issued in this regard.
Congress had been disappointed after the NC denied it a safe Rajya Sabha seat despite commitments made at the highest level, instead offering an “unsafe seat”. Following this, Congress decided not to contest the Rajya Sabha polls and even opted out of the Nagrota Assembly bypoll, despite the NC offering the seat.
Karra said the decision reflected the Congress’s commitment to secularism and unity against divisive politics.
In a parallel development, PDP chief and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti also announced her party’s support for the NC in the Rajya Sabha polls.
“The PDP, which has three MLAs, will vote to keep the BJP away and in favour of a party (NC) that is not entirely trustworthy. We will cast our votes for the third seat, from which NC’s Shammi Oberoi is contesting, but not for the fourth seat. If they lose the fourth, they will blame the PDP,” she said.
“The NC can divert its three votes from Seat No. 3 to Seat No. 4,” she added, stressing that the decision was taken “to stop fascist and communal forces.” Mehbooba also said that the NC had assured support for two PDP-sponsored bills, the J&K Land Rights and Regularisation Bill, 2025 and the Bill on Regularisation of Daily Wagers, during the ongoing Assembly session.
The four vacant Rajya Sabha seats are being contested through three separate notifications. NC’s Chowdhary Ramzan faces BJP’s Ali Mohammed Mir for the first seat, while Sajad Kichloo (NC) is contesting against BJP’s Rakesh Mahajan for the second. The third notification covers two seats, with NC’s Shammi Oberoi and Imran Nabi Dar contesting against BJP’s Sat Sharma.
With the current Assembly strength at 88, the NC holds 41 members and enjoys the support of seven independents (including one from CPI-M) and six Congress MLAs, taking its effective strength to 54. The BJP has 28 members, the PDP three, while the PC, AIP, and AAP have one member each.
AAP MLA Mehraj Malik will cast his vote through postal ballot as he is currently in jail under the Public Safety Act (PSA).
Given the numbers, the NC is assured of winning three seats, while the fourth is expected to see a close contest.
People’s Conference chief and MLA Sajad Lone has announced he will abstain from voting, which could tighten the race for the fourth seat. The AIP has not made its stance public.
Any abstentions or cross-voting on Seat No. 4 could tilt the balance in the BJP’s favour. In the event of a tie, the winner will be decided by a draw of lots.
