Srinagar, October 24: The National Conference (NC) on Friday won three of the four Rajya Sabha seats from Jammu and Kashmir, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) managed to win one seat. The election was full of intense political maneuvering.
Elections were held for the four Rajya Sabha seats from the Jammu and Kashmir for the first time after the abrogation of Article 370. This is the first time that members of the Upper House of Parliament have been elected from the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Earlier in the day, voting took place in the Assembly complex in Srinagar, where MLAs exercised their franchise at three polling stations.
NC’s Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan, Sajjad Kitchloo and Gurvinder Singh Oberoi emerged victorious, while BJP’s Sat Sharma won the fourth seat.
The contest for the final seat remained uncertain until the final round of counting, with both parties expressing confidence in their numbers.
With the support of the Congress, PDP, CPI(M), and several independent candidates, the National Conference secured a comfortable majority in three seats, while the BJP retained one seat through disciplined voting within its own faction.
Party leaders from both sides hailed the results as a testament to their respective strengths in the Assembly.
Significantly, the BJP derailed the ruling National Conference’s plans to capture all four Rajya Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir.
Sunil Sharma, a 48-year-old BJP leader known for his quiet but calculated political maneuvering, had been working behind the scenes for the past two weeks to ensure the BJP’s victory in the fourth seat. The situation worsened for the party after the Congress, PDP, and all independent MLAs publicly declared their support for the National Conference earlier in the day.
With a numerical advantage, the NC-led alliance was poised to win both the third and fourth seats. The BJP’s chances seemed dim, especially after independents Shabir Kulli and Sheikh Khurshid announced they would vote for the ruling coalition to block the BJP.
However, cross-voting and deliberate abstention by 7-8 MLAs helped the BJP win a fourth seat, giving Jammu and Kashmir its second MP in the Rajya Sabha.