Voting Underway for Four Rajya Sabha Seats in Jammu and Kashmir

Voting for the four Rajya Sabha seats from Jammu and Kashmir began on Friday at the Legislative Assembly complex in Srinagar, with MLAs of the ruling National Conference (NC) being the first to cast their votes.

Advertisment

1/38

2/38

3/38

4/38

5/38

6/38

7/38

8/38

9/38

10/38

11/38

12/38

13/38

14/38

15/38

16/38

17/38

18/38

19/38

20/38

21/38

22/38

23/38

24/38

25/38

26/38

27/38

28/38

29/38

30/38

31/38

32/38

33/38

34/38

35/38

36/38

37/38

38/38

In a significant political development ahead of the polls, the Jammu and Kashmir Congress has announced its decision to support the NC candidates, reaffirming its alliance with the ruling party in the Union Territory.

The decision came after a late-night meeting of the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) in Srinagar on Thursday. Addressing the media after the meeting, JKPCC President Tariq Hameed Karra confirmed that all six Congress MLAs will vote in favour of the NC nominees.

“Our alliance with the National Conference is strong and principled. Defeating the BJP remains our top priority in these elections,” Karra said, emphasizing that the Congress-NC partnership is united in its goal to counter the BJP’s influence in the region.

The Rajya Sabha elections are being seen as a test of political alliances and party cohesion across Jammu and Kashmir. The outcome is expected to reveal the relative strength of the ruling bloc and the opposition in the newly constituted Assembly.

The National Conference has fielded four candidates — Mohammad Ramzan Chowdhary, Sajad Kichloo, Shami Oberoi, and Imran Nabi Dar.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), meanwhile, has nominated three candidates for three seats and fielded its UT unit president Sat Sharma for the fourth seat.

According to the current numbers, the NC-led alliance holds an edge in three of the four seats, while the BJP is favoured to win the fourth seat with 28 votes against the NC bloc’s 24. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has also announced its support for the NC on the third seat.

All 90 elected MLAs of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly are eligible to vote in these Rajya Sabha elections.
This marks the first Rajya Sabha election in nearly a decade, as the process could not be conducted earlier due to the absence of an active Legislative Assembly since February 2021.