- CM Omar Abdullah questions extra BJP votes, accuses MLAs of betrayal
- ‘Fixed match?’ PC Chief slams NC-BJP alliance in Rajya Sabha Polls
- BJP’s Sat Sharma credits conscience votes and PM Modi’s popularity for victory
Srinagar: The results of Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajya Sabha polls came as expected, with the ruling National Conference securing three seats on Friday and the BJP clinching the final one, largely due to a possible strategic cross-voting by a few Independents and the People’s Conference’s abstention.
Polling for the four Rajya Sabha seats was held on Friday, and the entire process was divided into three notifications. Chowdhry Mohammed Ramzan of the NC had a direct contest with Ali Mohammed Mir of the BJP in one of the seats. Out of the total 87 votes polled, the NC candidate secured 58, while the BJP managed only the party strength of 28, Secretary Legislative Assembly M K Pandita told reporters. He said one vote was rejected.
In the second seat, the NC’s Sajjad Kitchloo had a direct fight against the BJP’s Rakesh Mahajan. Pandita, who was the returning officer for the elections, said Kitchloo secured 57 votes, and the BJP managed 29. Two votes were rejected.
For the third notification, the NC had fielded two candidates — G S Oberoi, also known as Shammi Oberoi, and Imran Nabi Dar. The BJP, on the other hand, fielded its Jammu and Kashmir unit chief Sat Sharma.
Pandita said Oberoi got 31 votes, while Dar could only manage 21. The BJP candidate secured 32 votes. Three votes were declared invalid.
The vote tally of the BJP indicated the party got four more votes, probably from the Independent MLAs.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah congratulated the three NC candidates who got elected to the Rajya Sabha and made it clear that all party votes remained intact across the four elections, and the poll agent saw each polling slip.
“There was no cross-voting from any of our MLAs. So the questions arise — where did the four extra votes of the BJP come from? Who were the MLAs who deliberately invalidated their votes by marking the wrong preference number while voting?
“Do they have the guts to raise their hands 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!” Abdullah said in his post on X.
He also had a word of encouragement for the losing candidate, Imran Nabi Dar.
“We put in our best effort to get him elected, but were let down at the last moment. It’s not easy to lose a hard-fought election, but I’m confident other opportunities will open up for him soon.”
The NC on Thursday issued a whip to its MLAs to ensure their presence and cast their votes in favour of the party candidates for the polls to four seats of Rajya Sabha from Jammu and Kashmir.
People’s Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti congratulated the three National Conference candidates who won the Rajya Sabha election, and hoped they would strongly represent the people of Jammu and Kashmir and speak up for them in Parliament.
The PDP had announced support for the NC for the elections “to keep the BJP away”.
Jammu and Kashmir Congress chief, Tariq Hameed Karra, in a post on X, congratulated the National Conference for “securing three safe seats and putting up a strong fight for the fourth unsafe seat”.
J-K Peoples’ Conference chief Sajad Lone, however, described the Rajya Sabha election in Jammu and Kashmir as a “fixed match” between the ruling National Conference and the opposition BJP.
“So the BJP wins the fourth seat. As predicted — a fixed match; Axis of the evil — NC and BJP,” he said in a post on X.
Lone, the MLA from the Handwara assembly segment of north Kashmir, abstained from voting in the election. “Thank God I abstained. Imagine what my plight would have been. Now, it has been mathematically proven that it was a fixed match.”
“Why did the NC poll extra votes for candidate three. They didn’t need to. They polled 31 votes for candidate three. Only 29 votes would have sufficed, even 28, because the BJP was fighting for seat four. Who cross-voted? Whose votes were rejected? Who was hand in glove?” he asked.
The BJP, with 28 assembly members, had strategically named Sharma in the third notification. He got a crucial headstart after Lone, an erstwhile ally of the BJP-PDP government, announced that his party would abstain from the forthcoming Rajya Sabha elections.
Losing NC candidate, Imran Nabi Dar, alleged horsetrading by the BJP, saying it was evident that four MLAs had voted for Sharma after promising support to the ruling party in Jammu and Kashmir.
“The BJP did not have the numbers to win this seat. They had only 28 MLAs. How did they get 32? It is clear that horsetrading has happened,” Dar told reporters here after the poll results were declared.
He claimed that the BJP must have “bought” four votes. “Those four people had promised these votes to us. If they have any shame left, they should come forward and admit that they voted for the BJP,” Dar said.
He, however, said the party was working to “expose who all of those cross-voted”.
As soon as the results were out, National Conference supporters raised slogans in favour of their leaders, including Omar Abdullah and the victorious candidates. “Vote Chor, Gaddi Chorr” slogans were also raised during the celebrations.
BJP supporters also raised slogans in favour of their victorious candidate Sat Sharma on the Assembly lawns.
The Union territory, with four seats in Rajya Sabha, had been unrepresented in the Upper House of Parliament since February 15, 2021, the day when Ghulam Nabi Azad and Nazir Ahmed Laway finished their term.
Two other members, Fayaz Ahmed Mir and Shamsheer Singh Manhas, had completed their term on February 10, the same year.
Meanwhile, the BJP’s Rajya Sabha election winning candidate Sat Sharma said the four MLAs from outside his party who voted for him had listened to their conscience, and it showed how much the people in Jammu and Kashmir loved Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Sharma, who is also the BJP’s J-K chief, defeated National Conference (NC) candidate Imran Nabi Dar by securing 32 votes against his opponent’s 22.
“We had 28 members, but four members voted for the BJP by listening to their conscience, and supported (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi. It makes it clear how much love there is in the hearts of the people and the MLAs for Modi,” Sharma told reporters here after his win.
He said the BJP has made history by winning the Rajya Sabha seat and will make history in the Budgam and Nagrota bypolls.
The MP-elect said his win is the victory of the BJP and the common people.
“I want to thank the party leadership, the prime minister, party president J P Nadda and (Home Minister) Amit Shah who thought I was capable enough to contest this election. I also want to thank party workers and voters, whom I had appealed to vote, keeping in mind their conscience, and elect those who work for the country and society,” he said.
Sharma said he will serve the people, the country, the society and the party as a Rajya Sabha MP.
Profiles of winners in Rajya Sabha elections
Here are the profiles of the three National Conference candidates and the Bharatiya Janata Party nominee who emerged victorious in the Rajya Sabha elections in Jammu and Kashmir — the first since the erstwhile state was bifurcated and turned into a Union Territory.
- Chowdry Mohammad Ramzan (National Conference)
The 75-year-old leader is a four-time ex-MLA and a former minister, who was first elected to the legislative assembly in 1983 from Handwara in Kupwara district of north Kashmir.
He retained the seat in the 1987 and 1996 elections. After losing in the 2002 polls, Ramzan returned to the assembly in 2008. However, he lost to Sajad Gani Lone in the 2014 and 2024 assembly elections.
Ramzan was a minister in the Farooq Abdullah government in 1996.
- Sajad Ahmad Kitchloo (National Conference)
Kitchloo (60) comes from an influential political family from the Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir. His father, Bashir Ahmad Kitchloo, was an important leader of the party and held key portfolios in the Farooq Abdullah government in the 1980s and in 1996.
The senior Kitchloo died in 2001 when he was the social welfare minister. Sajad jumped into electoral politics and won the Kishtwar seat in the 2002 polls. He retained the seat in the 2008 elections.
However, Sajad Ahmad Kitchloo lost the assembly polls in 2014 and 2024. He was elected as an MLC in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Council in 2015.
- Gurwinder Singh Oberoi (National Conference)
The 56-year-old is the second Sikh MP from Jammu and Kashmir. Also known as Shammi Oberoi, he is a businessman and holds a diploma in hotel management.
Currently, the National Conference’s treasurer, Oberoi, is the son of late party leader and MLC Dharamveer Singh Oberoi. His father was also the chief polling agent of Omar Abdullah during his Parliamentary election in 1999.
Shammi Oberoi rose to prominence in the NC after Devender Singh Rana left the party in October 2021. He played a key role in securing the support of the PDP and the Congress for the Rajya Sabha polls.
He is considered a key aide of both party president Farooq Abdullah and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, and was appointed party treasurer in March 2017.
- Sat Sharma (BJP)
The president of the BJP’s Jammu and Kashmir unit, 64-year-old Sharma, is a chartered accountant by profession. He was appointed the BJP’s J&K chief after last year’s assembly elections in the Union Territory.
This is his second stint as the head of J&K BJP. He had headed the BJP here from 2015 to 2018.
Sharma was a minister in the PDP-BJP coalition government for two months. He won the 2014 assembly election from the Jammu West Assembly constituency on a BJP ticket.
He, however, lost the 2024 assembly elections despite his party winning 29 seats. (PTI)
