A day after the Congress party decided against fielding a joint candidate, all four National Conference candidates submitted their nomination papers for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections scheduled for October 24. The BJP has fielded three candidates. All of them filed their nominations in Srinagar before the Secretary of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, Manoj Kumar Pandita, who is the returning officer for the polls.
The BJP candidates Satpal Sharma, Rakesh Mahajan, and Ali Mohammad Mir arrived at the venue in a procession. The candidates were accompanied by most of the party MLAs and other leaders from the valley. Union Minister of State in the PMO Jitendra Singh and Rajya Sabha member Ghulam Ali Khatana were also present on the occasion.
From the National Conference, Choudhary Muhammad Ramzan (former minister), Sajad Kichloo (former Minister of State), and Shammi Oberoi (NC Treasurer) submitted their nomination papers. Imran Nabi Dar, the party’s state spokesperson, was the last to file his nomination soon after the party high command cleared his name.
Talking to reporters, senior BJP leader and Leader of Opposition in J-K Assembly Sunil Sharma said his party has fielded candidates for three of the four Rajya
Sabha seats and all efforts would be made to win all three of them.
“We will do whatever it takes to win all three seats on which we have fielded candidates,” he said.
With an effective strength of 88 MLAs in the current legislative assembly, the BJP, which has 28 MLAs, has a realistic chance of winning only one seat. It will need help from non-BJP MLAs either to vote for its candidates or abstain from voting for the two seats under common notification.
Reacting to the lofty claims made by BJP leaders on the outcome of the Rajya Sabha polls, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah told reporters in Srinagar that the results of the upcoming elections to four Rajya Sabha seats will reveal which parties support or oppose the BJP.
“This election will reveal who is a supporter of the BJP and who is an opponent of the BJP. Not a single party has shown support to the BJP over the last year, and on its own, it cannot win even one seat,” Abdullah told reporters.
The Chief Minister said if the BJP manages to win any of the seats, it would be due to “money power, muscle power and power of the agencies”.
Referring to the announcement of the Congress party against fielding their candidate, Omar said, “We had named three candidates and felt that Congress had the best chance on the fourth seat, but they felt otherwise”.
Meanwhile, a senior Congress party leader and AICC general secretary Ghulam Ahmad Mir on Monday said the National Conference (NC) should have taken all like-minded parties into confidence before finalising its candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls in Jammu and Kashmir.
Speaking to reporters in Anantnag district, Mir exuded confidence that no non-BJP MLA will vote for the party’s candidates in the polls.
“The Chief Minister should have taken into confidence all like-minded parties before naming their (NC) candidates for the Rajya Sabha elections,” Mir said.
“There are 60 non-BJP MLAs in the 88-member House. I am confident that the BJP will not get even one of those 60 votes. They are facing internal problems, and it is difficult for them to manage within their party,” he said.
Mir said the Congress sought a safe seat from its alliance partner NC, to contest the Rajya Sabha elections, but there was no response from the regional party.
“We wanted to field a candidate for the first three seats, but they offered us the fourth seat, which was not safe. Therefore, the Congress decided not to field a candidate for the fourth seat,” he said.
Leader of Opposition Sunil Kumar Sharma Monday, described the Congress party as a “puppet” of the National Conference (NC), claiming that Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah was imposed on its MLAs as Chief Minister in 1975 following his release from jail.
Speaking to reporters, the BJP leader said that Congress is a non-entity in Jammu & Kashmir.
“Congress doesn’t have its own existence in Jammu and Kashmir. It functions as a puppet of the National Conference. The Congress merely follows decisions made by the NC leadership. It is not an independent party,” he said in response to a question over its decision to opt out of Rajya Sabha polls after being offered the ‘risky’ seat by NC.
He said that NC founder Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah was imposed on Congress MLAs as CM in 1975.
“If you turn the pages of history, you will see that Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah was released from jail in 1975 and then imposed on Congress MLAs as Chief Minister.
Even today, all decisions of the Congress party are dictated by the National Conference. The Congress has been repeatedly humiliated by NC, yet it remains unashamed,” he said
