The ruling National Conference (NC) on Friday announced its three candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls and said discussions were on with the Congress for the fourth seat. Election for four vacant Rajya Sabha seats from Jammu and Kashmir will be held on 24 October.
Senior NC leaders Choudhary Ramzaan, Sajjad Kitchloo, and party treasurer Shammi Oberoi will be the party’s candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls, said Nasir Aslam Wani, political advisor to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.
Wani said the party has finalised three candidates and is currently in discussions with the Congress regarding the fourth seat. “We have kept one seat open, and talks are ongoing with the Congress,” he said.
NC leaders did not clarify whether they intend to leave one of the three safe seats for the Congress or offer them a competitive seat where the BJP has an advantage.
While the alliance has 24 votes for the fourth seat, the BJP commands 28 votes.
Meanwhile, the BJP has decided to contest all four Rajya Sabha seats. The core committee of the party is learnt to have prepared a panel of four, including Sat Sharma, Dr Nirmal Singh, Ravinder Raina, and Sunil Sethi, for contesting the polls.
Sharma is president of the J&K unit of the BJP, while Singh is a former deputy chief minister. Raina lost the Assembly elections against the NC candidate Surinder Choudhary, who is now the Deputy CM of J&K. Sethi is the chief spokesman of the BJP in J&K.
The PDP, which has three MLAs, has not yet opened its cards on the issue of contesting the elections.