With announcement of schedule for the polls on 4 seats of Rajya Sabha from J&K, the coalition partners, Congress and National Conference, are in the process of warming-up to ‘renew and revive’ their ‘arrangement’ for crucial polls – a litmus test for their alliance. Congress has appointed Digvijay Singh as observer and entrusted upon him the responsibility of holding negotiations with NC over the stakes for one seat in the Upper House.
As per the numerical strength, there will be three key players in the electoral chess game – National Conference, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and Congress – by virtue of being an ally of the National Conference.Key player National Conference, which has clear dominance in case of Rajya Sabha polls and has a number strength of its own to bag three seats, has already cleared its stance.
On September 25, the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had clearly dismissed the speculative reports about zeroing in on the names of party candidates for Rajya Sabha polls, stating that the National Conference had yet to deliberate and take a call on that.“It is for the party (NC) to decide (names of candidates). As far as I know, so far in the National Conference, we have not yet deliberated or decided as to who will be given the mandate. There are four seats. We have yet to decide on how many seats NC will contest and how many seats will be given to others (allies). We will take a call on that,” he had asserted.
The message was loud and clear – NC will talk, whenever it happens, from a position of strength.As for the strong contenders, rather names being contemplated by NC, it is party president Dr Farooq Abdullah, former ministers Sajjad Ahmed Kichloo and Chowdhary Ramzan who have remained in circulation in news reports as NC candidates for RS seats. However, no official word yet on the names.
For poll alliance, both in the case of the All India Congress Committee (AICC), special observer and former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh (MP), Digvijay Singh has been officially given this role and responsibility.
“Yes, he has been a special AICC observer for J&K for the past some time to oversee the coalition affairs on behalf of Congress. It is not that he has been entrusted with the task for these polls specifically. There are four RS seats. Talks will be held between the coalition partners to decide and draw an election strategy as to how to conduct and win. Budgam and Nagrota are also going to (by)polls soon. We are in the coalition. So, deliberations between the alliance partners are a natural process and will be held in due course of time,” Congress sources point out, while responding to queries about the negotiation process.
“When the process starts and what ultimately will be decided with the NC leadership, Digvijay Singh will report to the Congress high command, which will take a final call,” said a senior leader in the party.For the official schedule of talks and Digvijay Singh’s schedule to visit J&K, JKPCC leadership is shortly going to make formal announcement.
On September 24, ending the prolonged wait, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced that the biennial elections to four vacant seats in the Council of States (Rajya Sabha), from Jammu and Kashmir, would be held on October 24.These four vacancies will be filled by holding three separate elections, in accordance with the law.Seats have been lying vacant since 2021, when the term of office of 4 members elected from the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir expired on their retirement.
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