Voting began this morning for four Rajya Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir, the first such election since the abrogation of Article 370 and reorganisation into a union Territory in 2019.
The ruling National Conference (NC) is in direct contest with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Officials said the MLAs are casting their votes at three separate polling booths set up inside the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly complex. Voting began at 9 am and will continue until 4 pm. The counting of votes is scheduled to begin at 5 pm and is expected to conclude within minutes.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah was among the first to arrive at the Assembly complex and cast his vote.
The NC is expected to secure three of the four seats, while the fourth remains a close contest, with the BJP expressing confidence about its chances of winning it.
NC received a major boost on the eve of the Rajya Sabha polls as the Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) agreed to set aside their differences and extend support to the NC’s four candidates. However, both parties made it clear that their backing came despite lingering grievances over what they described as the NC’s recent political conduct.
The four NC candidates whose fate will be decided in today’s Rajya Sabha elections are former Cabinet Minister Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan, former Minister of State Sajjad Kitchloo, party treasurer Gurwinder Singh, also known as Shammi Oberoi, and state spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar.
Ramzan and Kitchloo are contesting against BJP nominees Ali Mohammad Mir and Rakesh Mahajan, respectively, under the first two notifications. Oberoi and Imran Dar are pitted against BJP’s Jammu and Kashmir president Sat Sharma in the contest held under the third notification.
The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly’s current strength is 88. The NC has 41 MLAs and enjoys the support of six Independents. They will now get the support of nine MLAs from the Congress and the PDP. The BJP has 28 MLAs.
