Srinagar, Oct 24, KDC: Voting for the Rajya Sabha elections in Jammu and Kashmir began on Friday morning at the Legislative Assembly complex, with the spotlight on the keenly contested fourth seat between the National Conference (NC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
By 10:30 AM, as many as 50 MLAs had cast their votes — 28 from the National Conference, 20 from the BJP, and one each from the PDP and Congress. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah was the first MLA to cast his vote.
The voting process began at 9:00 AM, with three polling booths set up inside the Assembly premises. Voting will continue until 4:00 PM, and counting is scheduled to begin at 5:00 PM.
While the National Conference is expected to comfortably win three of the four Rajya Sabha seats, the fourth seat remains on a knife’s edge. Both the NC and BJP have an equal strength of 28 votes, making the contest intensely competitive.
The BJP’s chances suffered a setback after the Congress, PDP, and independent MLA Shabir Kulley pledged support to the National Conference. Based on the current political alignments, NC candidates are backed by 57 MLAs — including 41 from NC, six from Congress, six independents, three from PDP, and one from CPI(M). The BJP has 28 MLAs in its camp.
Two MLAs, Mehraj Malik and Sheikh Khursheed, have not disclosed their voting intentions. Malik, currently detained under the Public Safety Act, had cast his vote earlier this week from Kathua district jail.
NC candidates Choudhary Muhammad Ramzan and Sajjad Kichloo are poised to win the first two seats with 57 votes each against the BJP’s 28. However, the combined election for the third and fourth seats — contested by Gurwinder Singh Oberoi (Independent), Imran Dar (NC), and Sat Sharma (BJP) — will determine the real outcome.
For these seats, the NC-led bloc is expected to distribute its votes between Oberoi (29 votes) and Imran Dar (28 votes), while all BJP MLAs will vote for Sat Sharma. Political observers say the final result could hinge on a single act of cross-voting within the ruling alliance.
With voting continuing smoothly, the suspense around the fourth Rajya Sabha seat has turned the J&K Assembly into a political battleground, as both the NC and BJP look to make decisive gains in the Upper House. (KDC)
