The political stage is set for an intense contest over the four Rajya Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir, with nine candidates filing their nomination papers today. This includes four from the ruling National Conference (NC) and three from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The nominations came before Returning Officer Manoj Pandita, Secretary of the Assembly.
In the first notification for one seat, NC’s Choudhary Muhammad Ramzan, BJP’s Dr. Ali Muhammad Mir, and independent Prabhakar Dada have submitted their nominations. With the NC-led alliance holding 53 MLAs, Ramzan is expected to secure this seat comfortably, even without Congress’s support. Meanwhile, the BJP has backing from its 28 MLAs.
For the second notification, NC’s Sajad Kichloo and BJP’s Rakesh Mahajan filed nominations for another single seat. Following the same voting pattern, Kichloo looks poised for victory.
The third notification, which pertains to two seats, includes NC’s Gurwinder Singh Oberoi (alias Shammi Oberoi), Imran Dar, BJP’s Sat Pal Sharma, and independent Kante Sayanna. Political observers suggest that the two candidates receiving the highest votes will win these seats. The NC alliance is expected to secure 29 votes for Oberoi and allocate 24 votes to Dar, while all BJP legislators will likely vote for Sharma.
Following the submission of his nomination, Rakesh Mahajan from BJP expressed gratitude towards the party leadership and shared optimism about winning multiple seats. “I am thankful to the national leadership for this honour. I am sure we will win all three seats,” he said.
BJP Party President Sat Sharma, also in the running, criticized NC while stressing the BJP’s resilience. “We will fight with all our strength and script history. We aim to win more than one seat this time,” he asserted.
Dr. Ali Mohammad Mir, another BJP candidate, expressed his gratitude for the trust shown in him. “Entire Kashmir is happy. I thank the central leadership for considering me competent for this responsibility,” he stated.
On the other hand, NC’s chief spokesperson Tanvir Sadiq confirmed the smooth completion of the nomination process. “We are confident of winning all four seats. However, it is unfortunate that Congress did not agree to what was offered. I urge all secular forces to support our candidates,” he said.
Senior NC leader Choudhary Muhammad Ramzan, who is also contesting, expressed his commitment to addressing developmental and political concerns in Parliament. “We will come up to people’s expectations. There are a number of issues — developmental and political — that must be addressed, and we will talk about them,” he affirmed.
The elections for the four Rajya Sabha seats from Jammu and Kashmir are scheduled to take place later this month, setting the stage for a crucial political showdown.
