Jammu and Kashmir witnessed a significant political event as BJP candidates filed their nominations for three Rajya Sabha seats amidst a charged atmosphere of celebration and patriotic chants. A large contingent of supporters, along with Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh, 28 BJP MLAs, and other senior party officials, accompanied the nominees to the Legislative Assembly in Srinagar. The BJP had announced its chosen candidates for three of the four vacant Rajya Sabha positions on October 12. The party is confident of clinching one seat due to its numerical strength in the Legislative Assembly and aims to play a decisive role in the other contests. Voting is scheduled for October 24, 2025.
The BJP’s nominees include Satpal Sharma, a former state party president and minister, whose nomination is seen as benefiting from the party’s strong base in Jammu; Rakesh Mahajan, the current Vice President of the J&K BJP unit, representing the Rajouri-Poonch constituency; and Ali Mohammad Mir, a senior party leader from Budgam, representing the Kashmir region. Sharma articulated that their campaign would champion ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ and pledged to address any lingering developmental issues since the 2019 abrogation of Article 370. He also affirmed the reliability of the Prime Minister’s promise to reinstate statehood. These four Rajya Sabha seats became available in February 2021 upon the completion of terms for previous MPs. With the BJP holding 28 seats in the 90-member J&K Assembly, securing at least one seat is a certainty. Their pursuit of three seats is set to intensify the political competition. On the opposing side, the National Conference (NC) and its ally, the Congress, have also fielded their candidates. The NC’s nominees are Choudhary Muhammad Ramzan, Shammi Oberoi, and Sajjad Ahmed Kitchloo, who are widely expected to win. The Congress, however, has declared it will not contest, labeling the fourth seat allocated by the NC as ‘unsafe,’ which could potentially fragment the anti-BJP vote.
