As the Election Commission of India issued the notification for the much-awaited elections to the four Rajya Sabha seats from Jammu and Kashmir, the Congress has decided to stake its claim on one seat as a constituent of the coalition government headed by Omar Abdullah.
Interestingly, the Congress has only six MLAs in the 90-member House, but the party is still hopeful of securing one Rajya Sabha seat with the support of the ruling National Conference (NC) and other coalition partners, including the CPI(M) and some Independents.
"A decision in this regard has to be taken by the party high command after consultation with the ruling National Conference. We are hopeful that at least one Rajya Sabha seat will be given to the party as a coalition partner," Jammu and Kashmir Congress chief spokesperson Ravinder Sharma told International Business Times. He expressed confidence that the NC would leave one seat for Congress, pointing out that the party had not been given any ministerial berth in the Omar Abdullah government.
Senior Congress leaders also indicated that the party expects support from the three MLAs of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and one MLA of the CPI(M), which could make its candidate a "consensus choice" for the non-BJP bloc.
ECI announces dates for J&K Rajya Sabha polls
On September 24, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the much-awaited elections to the four Rajya Sabha seats from Jammu and Kashmir.
According to the Commission, the four vacancies will be filled through three separate elections, as mandated by law, since the seats were originally part of three different biennial cycles. Two members retired on February 15, 2021, while two others completed their terms earlier, on February 10, 2021.
The Commission referred to a precedent set by the Delhi High Court in AK Walia vs Union of India (1994), which ruled that separate elections must be held when vacancies arise in different categories. The judgment had stated, "Once the seats have been divided into the three categories from the inception, the respondents were right in holding separate elections for each category."
The ECI further clarified that the tenure of the newly elected members will depend on the outcome of a pending case before the Supreme Court.
Seats vacant since February 2021
The four Rajya Sabha seats from J&K have remained vacant since February 2021. The terms of former members Ghulam Nabi Azad and Nazir Ahmed Laway ended on February 15, 2021, while Fayaz Ahmed Mir and Shamsher Singh Manhas retired on February 10, 2021.
The Commission explained that elections could not be held earlier, as there was no legislative assembly in place to form the electorate. With the 2024 Assembly elections now concluded in the Union Territory, the conditions are in place to conduct the biennial polls.
The four seats are allocated to the UT of Jammu and Kashmir under the provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, which bifurcated the erstwhile state into two Union Territories in 2019.
As per the schedule, polling will be held on October 24, and counting will begin an hour after voting concludes on the same evening.
Political arithmetic
Following the 2024 Assembly elections, the National Conference emerged as the single-largest party with 42 seats, followed by the BJP with 29, the Congress with six, the PDP with three, and one seat each for the People's Conference, CPI(M), and Aam Aadmi Party. Seven Independents also entered the House.
With this composition, the NC-Congress alliance, backed by smaller parties and Independents, has the numbers to secure three seats, while the BJP is comfortably placed to win one.
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