 Sandeep Bhat
Early Times Report
Jammu, Aug 4: Even as political parties have begun the process of shortlisting candidates for upcoming Rajya Sabha vacancies across the country, the status of four seats allotted to Jammu and Kashmir in the Upper House of Parliament remains uncertain. Despite the completion of Assembly elections in the Union Territory nearly ten months ago, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has yet to announce a schedule for the Rajya Sabha elections from the region.
The results of the 90-member Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly were declared on October 8, 2024, raising expectations that the long-pending Rajya Sabha polls would soon follow. However, the delay continues, and hopes for an early election now appear increasingly dim.
Several senior leaders from both the ruling National Conference (NC) and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are eagerly awaiting the announcement, anticipating potential berths in the Rajya Sabha. Even leaders from the Congress—which has just six seats in the Assembly—are hopeful of securing a seat with support from their coalition partner, the NC.
Over the past ten months, the ECI has announced and conducted Rajya Sabha elections for various other states, but Jammu and Kashmir has conspicuously remained off the schedule. The four seats from the region have been vacant since February 2021, when the terms of former MPs Ghulam Nabi Azad, Shamsher Singh Manhas, Nazir Ahmad Laway, and Fayaz Ahmad Mir expired. Since then, the region has had no representation in the Upper House.
Under normal circumstances, Rajya Sabha elections are held based on the strength of elected members in a state’s legislative assembly. Following the 2024 elections in J&K, the NC-Congress alliance—along with support from two MLAs of the CPI(M) and Aam Aadmi Party, as well as some independents—holds the numbers to secure at least two of the four Rajya Sabha seats. The BJP, with 29 MLAs, is in a position to win one seat comfortably and may attempt to use surplus votes to claim a second seat.
The Assembly election results brought the National Conference to the forefront with 42 seats, followed by the BJP with 29, Congress with six, PDP with three, and one seat each secured by the People's Conference, CPI(M), and Aam Aadmi Party. Seven independents also made it to the Assembly.
With political maneuvering underway, the continued silence from the ECI has added to the suspense, leaving parties in a wait-and-watch mode even as national-level strategizing begins for upcoming parliamentary sessions. |
