The National Conference on Friday secured three Rajya Sabha seats, while the BJP bagged one as the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly voted to fill four vacant Rajya Sabha seats on Friday.
The NC, the Union Territory’s ruling party, will send its senior leader from Kupwara, Chowdhary Mohammad Ramzan, to Rajya Sabha alongside former legislator Sajad Kichloo and party treasurer Shammi Oberoi. The BJP’s J&K unit chief Sat Sharma was the fourth to be elected to the Upper House from the UT.
The NC’s win was the result of its own numbers in the J&K House, amplified by support from Congress, the PDP and Independents elected in last year’s Assembly election. The fourth Rajya Sabha seat had remained contentious up to the last minute, but the BJP pulled through, defeating NC’s Imran Nabi Dar.
Chief Minister and NC vice-president Omar Abdullah congratulated all the winners and said that despite efforts to win the fourth seat, “We were let down at the last moment.” Days earlier, the NC had offered the fourth seat to the Congress to contest, but it declined, saying it was looking for one of the two “safe seats”. This ultimately led to all four seats being contested by the NC for the ruling alliance.
All of @JKNC_ votes remained intact across the four elections, as witnessed by our election agent who saw each polling slip. There was no cross voting from any of our MLAs so the questions arise – where did the 4 extra votes of the BJP come from? Who were the MLAs who…
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) October 24, 2025
On the directions of party president Mehbooba Mufti, the three PDP members, who are part of the Opposition in J&K, said they voted for the NC candidates in Friday’s election. Party MLA Waheed Para said the PDP took the decision keeping in mind the “larger interest” of the people of J&K. On Thursday, Mufti had announced support for the NC, saying that she has the assurance of the NC’s support on two key Bills the PDP is set to bring in the ongoing Assembly session.
“This is a contest of the BJP against the NC, and we are of the considered opinion that we had to vote for NC candidates to find representation in Parliament,” Para said.
The Congress had also sent a letter to NC president Farooq Abdullah on Thursday, extending its support to the NC’s candidates. The letter, however, also noted the party’s “disappointment” in working with the NC government over the past year. On Friday, the Congress’s J&K unit president, Tariq Hameed Karra, said the party represents a “larger cause” and “it is incumbent upon us to fight divisive forces”. Therefore, he said, the party will keep its issues with the NC aside to vote for its candidates on Friday.
The NC also garnered support from an unexpected quarter as Awami Ittehad Party’s (AIP) Langate MLA, Sheikh Khursheed, said outside the Assembly that he was choosing to vote for the NC. “Despite our political differences, we are pressed to vote for the NC to keep the BJP out,” he said. He also said that “this is not a vote for NC’s agenda, but against BJP’s anti-Kashmir agenda.”
Independent MLA Shabir Kullay, who is not part of the ruling coalition, also said that he would vote for the NC candidates, terming the election a contest between “the BJP and Kashmiris at large.” Criticising the PDP for its conditional support to the NC, he said, “At the moment we have to leave aside conditional support and consideration of benefits, right now we need to rise above that.”
People’s Conference chief Sajad Lone, who abstained from voting, termed the election a “fixed match” as results were declared. “So, the BJP wins the fourth seat. As predicted — fixed match. Axis of evil. NC and BJP. Thank God I abstained. Imagine what my plight would have been. Now mathematically proved,” he said.
