SRINAGAR: Voting for four Rajya Sabha seats in Jammu Kashmir began on Friday morning, marking the first such election in the Union Territory since 2019 and ending a decade-long gap.
MLAs arrived at the Legislative Assembly complex to cast their votes at three polling booths set up inside the premises.
The National Conference (NC) is poised to win three of the four seats comfortably, while the contest for the fourth seat remains on a knife-edge, with both the NC and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) holding an equal number of votes. The BJP’s advantage has waned after the Congress, People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and independent MLA Shabir Kulley pledged support to the NC.
Current political alignments indicate that NC candidates are backed by 57 MLAs — including 41 from the NC, six from Congress, six independents, three from the PDP, and one from the CPI(M) — while the BJP commands 28 votes. The voting preferences of two MLAs, Mehraj Malik and Sheikh Khursheed, remain undisclosed. Malik, currently detained under the Public Safety Act, cast his vote earlier this week inside Kathua District Jail.
The victories of NC nominees Choudhary Muhammad Ramzan and Sajjad Kichloo on the first two seats are considered certain, with each expected to secure 57 votes against the BJP’s 28. However, the real contest lies in the combined election for the third and fourth seats, where NC’s Imran Dar and Gurwinder Singh Oberoi face off against BJP’s Sat Sharma. The two candidates securing the highest number of votes will be declared winners.
Ruling alliance MLAs are expected to divide their votes between Oberoi and Dar, while all BJP legislators are set to vote for Sharma. The NC is likely to allocate 29 votes to Oberoi and 28 to Dar, matching the BJP’s total of 28. Unless cross-voting occurs within the ruling bloc, analysts say the BJP’s chances of clinching a seat remain slim.
Polling will continue until 4 pm, with results expected by 5 pm.
The election is seen as a crucial moment for Jammu and Kashmir’s political landscape, restoring its representation in the Rajya Sabha after years of constitutional and administrative transitions since 2019.
