SRINAGAR: The contest for four Rajya Sabha seats from Jammu and Kashmir has turned into a direct face-off between the National Conference (NC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), after the Congress on Sunday decided to stay out of the race, refusing the lone seat offered by its ally.
The NC, which heads the coalition government in the Union Territory, has fielded three candidates—Sajjad Kitchloo, Chaudhary Mohammad Ramzan, and Shammi Oberoi—for the upcoming elections scheduled on October 24. The party said it had reserved the fourth seat for its alliance partner, but the Congress has declined to contest, citing the seat’s “insecurity” against the BJP’s numbers.
Chief Spokesperson of the NC and legislator Tanvir Sadiq said the party’s candidates will file their nominations before the presiding officer at the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly in Srinagar on Monday. “We have announced three names and kept the fourth for the Congress. Talks were on for a strategic understanding, but they have chosen not to contest,” he said.
The Congress’s refusal followed two rounds of internal meetings in Srinagar and New Delhi. Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee President Tariq Hameed Karra said the party’s central leadership had sought a “safe seat”—meaning one of the first two seats where the NC-Congress bloc has a clear majority—but was instead offered the fourth seat, considered vulnerable to a BJP win.
“Our central leadership had demanded one safe seat, but we were offered the fourth. It was unanimously decided that we will not contest. We will, however, continue coordination with our allies,” Karra told reporters in Srinagar. He added that letters sent to NC President Farooq Abdullah and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on the matter went unanswered.
Despite the setback, Karra denied any strain in the coalition. “We have no intention of breaking the alliance. Some concerns about governance and coordination were voiced by members, and we will convey these to the central leadership,” he said.
According to the vote arithmetic, the NC-Congress alliance, backed by Independents and CPI(M)’s Yusuf Tarigami, commands around 53 votes—enough to comfortably secure three of the four Rajya Sabha seats. The BJP, with its 28 MLAs, has an advantage in the fourth seat if the Congress stays away.
The BJP on Sunday named its three candidates; Jammu and Kashmir unit president Sat Pal Sharma, Rakesh Mahajan, and Dr Ali Mohammad Mir. All three are set to file their nominations on Monday, accompanied by the party’s 28 legislators and senior leaders. “Our parliamentary board has cleared the names. The team is united, and we are ready for the contest,” BJP Leader of Opposition Sunil Sharma said after a meeting in Srinagar.
Sharma, a former minister and long-time party organiser, is contesting the seat once held by Ghulam Nabi Azad. Rakesh Mahajan and Dr Ali Mohammad Mir will contest the other two vacancies that opened after the terms of PDP’s Mir Mohammad Fayaz and BJP’s Shamsher Singh Manhas expired.
The BJP’s decision to contest three seats, despite being numerically strong only on one, has injected intensity into the election. Party insiders said the move is aimed at testing the NC-led alliance’s floor strength and possibly attracting support from smaller parties. The saffron party is also expected to reach out to independents and smaller groups such as the People’s Conference, Aam Aadmi Party, and Awami Ittehad Party (AIP), though most of them are unlikely to side with the BJP given their voter base in Kashmir.
The 90-member Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly currently has 88 sitting members, with two vacancies—one due to the death of BJP MLA Davinder Singh Rana, and another after Omar Abdullah resigned from the Budgam seat he won alongside Ganderbal.
The four Rajya Sabha seats have remained vacant since February 2021, following the expiry of the terms of Ghulam Nabi Azad, Nazir Ahmad Laway, Mir Mohammad Fayaz, and Shamsher Singh Manhas. The Election Commission of India issued three separate notifications on October 6 for the elections. The last date for filing nominations is October 13, scrutiny will take place on October 14, withdrawals can be made until October 16, and voting will be held on October 24.
Meanwhile, the National Conference’s decision to field its three senior leaders and keep Farooq Abdullah out of the contest has been interpreted as a sign that the veteran leader intends to stay firmly anchored in state politics rather than move to the national stage. The party insiders said the decision strengthens Omar Abdullah’s leadership in the coalition government.
With Congress out, the field is clearly drawn: the NC-led alliance is expected to retain three of the four seats, while the BJP looks confident of securing at least one. Yet, with both parties testing loyalties and exploring cross-party support, the October 24 vote promises to be one of the most politically charged exercises in Jammu and Kashmir’s recent parliamentary history.
