SRINAGAR: Voting for the Rajya Sabha elections in Jammu and Kashmir began on Friday morning, amid the National Conference’s (NC) claims of sweeping all four seats and the BJP’s confidence in clinching the crucial fourth seat.
MLAs started arriving early at the Legislative Assembly complex, where three polling booths have been set up for the exercise.
According to the current political equations, the National Conference is comfortably placed to secure three of the four seats, while the battle for the fourth seat remains neck-and-neck between the NC and the BJP. The contest tightened further after the Congress, PDP, and independent MLA Shabir Kulley announced their support for the NC.
The NC now enjoys the backing of 57 MLAs — including 41 from the party itself, six from the Congress, six independents, three from the PDP, and one from the CPI(M). The BJP, on the other hand, commands the support of 28 MLAs. The voting preferences of two legislators, Mehraj Malik and Sheikh Khursheed, remain unclear. Malik, currently detained under the Public Safety Act, cast his vote earlier this week inside Kathua District Jail.
NC candidates Choudhary Muhammad Ramzan and Sajjad Kichloo are poised for an easy victory on the first two seats, expected to secure 57 votes each against the BJP’s 28.
However, the real suspense lies in the combined election being held for the third and fourth seats, where three candidates — Gurwinder Singh Oberoi and Imran Dar from the NC, and Sat Sharma from the BJP — are in direct contention. The two candidates securing the highest number of votes in this round will be declared elected.
For these two seats, the ruling alliance is likely to split its votes between Oberoi and Dar, while all BJP MLAs are expected to vote en bloc for Sharma. Sources indicate the NC may allocate 29 votes to Oberoi and 28 to Dar — exactly matching the BJP’s 28 votes.
Unless cross-voting occurs within the ruling alliance, the BJP’s prospects of winning a seat appear slim. The voting pattern within the alliance blocs for the third and fourth seats will ultimately determine whether the NC completes a clean sweep or the BJP manages an upset.
