Strain in alliance: Congress abstains as NC candidates file papers for 4 RS seats in J&K

Amid fresh strains in the National Conference-Congress alliance, the Congress leadership on Monday displayed displeasure over the ruling NC’s decision not to offer them a ‘safe seat’ for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections by abstaining as four NC candidates filed their nomination papers in Srinagar.

The Congress party on Sunday announced not to contest the upcoming Rajya Sabha election after its alliance partner, the National Conference (NC), refused it a ‘safe seat’. Polling will be held on October 24 for the four vacant seats of the Rajya Sabha.

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Confirming that the Congress was missing from the paper filing by NC candidates on all the four seats, Pradesh Congress chief Tariq Hameed Karra said this was bound to happen as we have decided not to field our candidate for the Rajya Sabha elections.

Replying to questions, Karra said it was premature to say that the Congress with a strength of 6 MLAs will abstain from polling during the Rajya Sabha elections. “Any decision on the issue will be taken by the Congress high-command whom we will appraise of the sequence of events.”

He said the NC leadership had earlier assured the Congress leadership that a ‘safe seat’ will be left for the Congress to contest but later they have resorted to breach of trust. This indicates that the NC was considering whether to continue to be a partner of the India Bloc or not.

Meanwhile, the NC announced the candidature of the party’s spokesman Imran Nabi Dar for the fourth seat on which the Congress refused to field its candidate. Other three NC candidates, Choudhary Muhammad Ramzan, Shammi Oberoi and Sajad Kichloo also submitted their papers at the Legislative Assembly complex in Srinagar today.

BJP’s J&K president Sat Sharma, Ali Mohammad Mir, and Rakesh Mahajan also filed their nominations before the Secretary of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Manoj Kumar Pandita, who is the returning officer for the polls.

The BJP candidates were accompanied by Union Minister of State in PMO Dr Jitendra Singh and Rajya Sabha member Ghulam Ali Khatana, among others.

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.

This will be the first time that the Union Territory will hold Rajya Sabha elections since its transition from a state in 2019.

In the 90-member Assembly, the NC and the Congress have 48 members (NC 42 and Congress 6). With the support of five Independents and the CPI(M), the NC-Congress alliance has 53 members, the BJP has 28, the PDP 3, and the AIP, PC and AAP one each.

The current strength of the Assembly is 88 due to the death of a BJP MLA and the vacating of one of the two seats, Budgam, from where Chief Minister Omar Abdullah was elected.

Given the numbers game, the NC is safe on three of the four Rajya Sabha seats. The fourth seat that the NC had offered to the Congress gives the BJP an advantage.