NC wins three Rajya Sabha seats in J&K, BJP victorious on 1

The National Conference, which is part of the INDIA bloc, won three seats, while the BJP won the fourth in the elections to four Rajya Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir held here on Friday.

The NC leaders who made it to the RS are former Cabinet Minister Chowdry Mohammad Ramzan, former Minister of State Sajjad Kitchloo and party treasurer Gurwinder Singh, also known as Shammi Oberoi. From the BJP, Sat Sharma won.

Voting began in the morning for the four seats — the first such election since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah was among the first to arrive at the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly complex to cast his vote.

While all legislators cast their vote, People’s Conference chief and MLA Sajad Lone abstained. Doda MLA Mehraj Malik, who is currently detained under the PSA, cast his vote earlier through the postal ballot.

Late in the evening, the NC announced that the party had won three seats. The BJP also announced that its candidate, Sat Sharma, won the fourth seat by securing 32 votes, leaving NC candidate Imran Nabi Dar with 21 votes.

In the J&K Assembly, which has a current strength of 88, the NC has 41 MLAs and enjoys the support of Independents. The NC received a boost on the eve of the poll after its rival PDP (part of the INDIA bloc) and alliance partner Congress agreed to set aside their differences and support its candidates.

What came as a surprise was that winning BJP candidate Sharma managed to get 32 votes, indicating cross-voting. He got four votes from other parties.

For the NC, the result of the first three seats was on expected lines, but it was the fourth seat that played spoilsport for it as the BJP candidate won. The NC had earlier offered this seat to its alliance partner Congress, which declined to contest, stating that it was a “risky seat”.

After the NC bagged three seats, party workers celebrated the victory.

A party statement said the “victory would further strengthen the party’s voice at the national level and reinforce its role in safeguarding the interests and aspirations of the people of J&K.”

Soon after the announcement of the result, BJP legislators arrived at the party headquarters here and celebrated its victory on one seat.

CM Omar claimed that all NC “votes remained intact as witnessed by our election agent who saw each polling slip”. He said there was “no cross-voting by any of our MLAs”.

“So the question arises — where did the four extra votes of the BJP come from? Who were the MLAs who deliberately invalidated their votes by marking a wrong preference number while voting? Do they have the guts to put their hands up and own up to helping the BJP after promising us their votes? What pressure or inducement helped them make this choice? Let’s see if any of the BJP’s secret team owns up to selling their souls,” Omar said.

Winning candidate ChowdryMohamad Ramzan said, “This election has shown that whatever happened in 2019 has been rejected. This is the victory of the NC, our programme and policies.”