In Srinagar, voting for Jammu and Kashmir’s four Rajya Sabha seats opened Friday at the Legislative Assembly complex. The ruling National Conference (NC) members of the state assembly were the first to mark their ballots, setting the stage for a high‑stakes contest.
Shortly after the polls opened, a key alliance shift came to light. The Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) held a late‑night meeting in Srinagar, and its leaders decided that all six Congress MLAs would back the NC candidates in the Rajya Sabha election. Tariq Hameed Karra, the JKPCC president, told reporters that the decision shows Congress’s close partnership with the NC and that the shared goal is to defeat the BJP in the region.
“We want to make sure the BJP loses these elections,” Karra said. “Our alliance with the National Conference is strong and principled. Our aim is a clear BJP defeat.”
The Rajya Sabha race is a litmus test for how tightly opposition parties can hold together. With the NC fielding four hopefuls – Mohammad Ramzan Chowdhary, Sajad Kichloo, Shami Oberoi, and Imran Nabi Dar – the BJP has put up three candidates for seats it controls, plus Sat Sharma, the party’s Union Territory unit president, for the fourth seat.
According to polls, the NC has a margin of advantage in three of the seats, while the BJP leads in the fourth, with an estimated 28 votes against 24 working in the NC alliance’s favor. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has pledged support for the NC on the third seat, adding another layer to the alliance mix.
All 90 members of the J&K Legislative Assembly are eligible to vote. These elections are the first since the assembly was dissolved in February 2021, marking a return to democratic process after nearly a decade.
The outcome will show whether the combined opposition can hold its nerve against the BJP’s influence in Jammu and Kashmir, and how the regional players’ alliances hold up under election pressure. As the votes count, the focus remains on the numbers and the unity—or cracks—within the opposition bloc.
Source: ianslive
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