Srinagar, Oct 13 (IANS) Four candidates of regional National Conference (NC) on Monday filed nomination papers for the four Rajya Sabha seats going to polls in Jammu and Kashmir.

After the Congress refused to fight for the fourth Rajya Sabha seat offered to it by the NC, the Farooq Abdullah-led party fielded its 4th candidate as the Congress declined to fight calling the seat as ‘risky’.

As per the vote distribution, the NC-alliance has only 24 votes for the 4th seat while the BJP has 28 votes. With a clear edge on this seat, the BJP J&K president, Sat Sharma has filed papers today for this seat.

Four candidates from NC submitted their nomination papers today for the Rajya Sabha elections voting for which will be held on October, Chowdhary Muhammad Ramzan, Sajad Kichloo and Shammi Oberoi, filed papers on Monday for three seats while Imran Nabi Dar, was the last to submit his nomination papers for the NC for the 4th seat on Monday.

With Congress choosing to stay away from these polls, four candidates are now officially in the race representing the NC.

With the filing of nominations ending on Monday, the focus has now shifted to the campaigning and voting process by the Members of the Legislative Assembly, which will decide the final outcome of the Rajya Sabha elections in the Union Territory.

The Election Commission announced elections to four Rajya Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir on September 24 after more than four years as Jammu and Kashmir did not have a legislative assembly after February 2021.

The seat sharing process between the NC and the Congress ended in a deadlock following which the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress committee president, Tariq Hameed Karra told reporters that the party had decided to stay away from the Rajya Sabha polls.

What will have to be closely watched now is whether the 6 Congress MLAs cast their votes in favour of the NC candidates or stay out of the voting process to register their protest against the NC for not offering it a ‘safe’ seat.

–IANS

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