The National Conference (NC) has secured a decisive victory in Jammu and Kashmir, winning three out of the four Rajya Sabha seats. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) managed to clinch the fourth seat in a tightly contested race. These elections are noteworthy as they are the first Rajya Sabha polls to be held in the Union Territory since the significant revocation of Article 370.
Meanwhile, in neighboring Punjab, the Aam Aadmi Party’s Rajinder Gupta was elected unopposed earlier in October. These outcomes collectively impact the balance of power in the Rajya Sabha, with the INDIA bloc now holding 133 seats and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) holding 80 seats in the 245-member Upper House.
The voting process in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly saw participation from 86 out of 88 lawmakers, with one legislator casting a postal ballot. Notably, People’s Conference chief Sajad Lone abstained from voting.
The victorious NC candidates were Chowdhary M Ramzan, Sajjad Kichloo, and G. S. Oberoi. The BJP’s Satpal Sharma secured the fourth seat, narrowly defeating NC’s Imran Nabi Dar and fueling speculation of cross-voting. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah congratulated his party colleagues but also raised questions about the source of the BJP’s additional votes, suggesting potential invalidation of votes by other MLAs.
The BJP refuted these allegations, with Leader of the Opposition Sunil Sharma stating that they did not need to ‘buy’ votes and that the NC had attempted to consolidate votes based on religion and region. The electoral rules required a minimum number of votes for each candidate, with specific thresholds for different seats.
The assembly’s composition, with NC having 41 members and BJP having 28, indicated a close contest for the final seat. Pre-election alliances and the support of independent MLAs were key factors influencing the outcome. The secret ballot system requires MLAs to show their voting slips to party agents, a practice that does not apply to independent legislators.
Ramzan secured 58 votes for the first seat, while Kichloo also received 58 votes for the second. Oberoi won the third seat with 31 votes. Satpal Sharma of the BJP secured the fourth seat with 32 votes, just edging out Dar’s 22 votes, leaving questions about the origin of the BJP’s additional support.
The election results were met with celebrations by NC workers in Srinagar and Handwara. BJP supporters also celebrated in Srinagar with a flag rally. However, Sajad Lone, who abstained, alleged that the match was fixed, questioning the NC’s vote count for one of their candidates and implying a coordinated effort.
In a separate development, AAP’s Rajinder Gupta was elected unopposed from Punjab, filling a vacancy created by Sanjeev Arora’s resignation.