SRINAGAR: With the stage set for a new JK Assembly after a decade, National Conference (NC) chief Dr Farooq Abdullah is preparing to represent the party in the Rajya Sabha.
A senior NC leader confirmed the development, and said that the party plans to send Dr Abdullah to the Rajya Sabha. “He is a guiding force for us. Once the new Assembly is formed, we will hold polls for the Rajya Sabha. There is a consensus within the party that Dr Farooq sahab should go to the Rajya Sabha to represent NC and raise the issues of the people of JK.”
Sources added that once the Assembly is formed, for the first time in the Union Territory, JK will have representation in the Rajya Sabha after three and a half years.
Regarding the procedure, NC sources stated that newly elected legislators will elect four representatives to the Rajya Sabha once the Election Commission of India issues the notification.
“At present, Ghulam Ali Khatana is the only Rajya Sabha member representing J&K. He, being a Gujjar, was nominated by the BJP. The BJP’s move aimed to woo Gujjar votes in the recently concluded Assembly polls,” sources said.
Under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, the 90-member JK Assembly can elect five Lok Sabha members and four Rajya Sabha members.
The last Rajya Sabha elections in JK were held in 2015. The NC-Congress alliance secured one seat, while then-Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad became the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. All four Rajya Sabha members from JK retired in February 2021.
Dr Abdullah was elected to the Lok Sabha from Srinagar in 2014. NC’s Hasnain Masoodi and Muhammad Akbar Lone won from Anantnag and Baramulla Lok Sabha seats. Sources revealed that in a recent Legislature Party meeting, NC unanimously agreed that Dr Farooq should represent the party in the Rajya Sabha. (KNO)
