SRINAGAR: The ruling National Conference (NC) in Jammu and Kashmir secured a major victory by winning three out of four Rajya Sabha seats in the elections held on Friday. However, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) pulled off a surprise win on the fourth seat, sparking allegations of cross-voting.
These were the first Rajya Sabha polls in J&K since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, conducted through three separate notifications to fill seats that had remained vacant since February 2021.
NC Secures Three Seats
The NC’s winning candidates are:
- Chowdhary Mohammad Ramzan – Senior leader and former minister
- Sajad Kichloo – Former legislator
- G.S. (Shammi) Oberoi – Party treasurer
The NC’s victory on these three seats was largely expected, supported by its legislative strength and the backing of Congress and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), both of which had publicly declared their support for the NC nominees.
BJP Scores Surprise Win
The BJP clinched the fourth seat with its state unit president Satpal Sharma emerging victorious — a result that came as a setback for the NC, whose candidate Imran Nabi Dar was defeated.
The Cross-Voting Twist
The BJP, which has 29 MLAs in the 90-member Assembly (two seats currently vacant, bringing the effective strength to 88), secured 32 votes for Sharma — four more than its strength. The extra votes point to cross-voting by some independent MLAs or alliance partners from the NC-led bloc.
Vote Tally for the Fourth Seat:
- Satpal Sharma (BJP): 32 votes
- Imran Nabi Dar (NC): 21 votes
Political Fallout and Reactions
National Conference:
J&K Chief Minister and NC Vice-President Omar Abdullah expressed disappointment over losing the fourth seat. While congratulating his party’s three winners, he questioned the source of BJP’s extra votes. “All NC votes remained intact. The question is — where did the four extra votes for BJP come from? Who deliberately invalidated their votes?” he wrote on social media.
BJP:
Party leaders celebrated Sharma’s win as proof of the BJP’s growing influence in the Union Territory, calling it a “strategic and moral victory.”
Other Reactions:
- Sajad Lone, chief of the Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference (JKPC), who had announced his party would abstain, dismissed the polls as a “fixed match” between the NC and BJP.
- J&K Congress chief praised the NC’s success on the three “safe seats” and acknowledged the tough contest for the fourth.
Broader Implications
The results underline the volatile and fluid nature of J&K’s political landscape, where cross-party maneuvering continues to shape outcomes even in tightly contested elections.
