Jammu and Kashmir will have only partial representation in the Vice Presidential election tomorrow , as the Union Territory currently lacks any members in the Rajya Sabha, one of the two Houses that form the electoral college for the poll.
While members of both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha vote in the Vice Presidential election, Jammu and Kashmir’s participation will be limited. Its five Lok Sabha MPs will cast their votes, but the absence of Rajya Sabha representatives means the UT will not have full parliamentary representation in the process.The J&K UT has five Lok Sabha and four Rajya Sabha seats while the UT of Ladakh has lone Lok Sabha seat.All four Rajya Sabha seats from J&K are vacant for over 4 years.
Three Members of Parliament (MPs) of the BJP from the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh including two elected and one nominated will vote for NDA candidate C P Radhakrishnan in September 9 Vice Presidential election while two National Conference and two Independent Lok Sabha members are yet to make formal announcement of support but there are indications that they will support INDIA bloc nominee B Sudershan Reddy.
Four Rajya Sabha seats from Jammu and Kashmir are vacant for more than four and a half years. While the BJP stand is clear, ruling National Conference has not made any official statement but chances are that they will back INDIA bloc nominee.A senior NC leader said the INDIA bloc decision on putting up candidate for the Vice President’s post was taken at a meeting attended by NC president Dr Farooq Abdullah and, therefore, the party stand is known.
Independent Lok Sabha Member from J&K, Engineer Rashid from Baramulla, who is in Tihar jail, has been granted permission by the Court to cast vote for the Vice Presidential election but his stand too is not known.Ladakh has lone MP Haji Hanifa Jan, who was elected in 2024 Parliamentary election as an Independent candidate, but was affiliated with National Conference and is likely to vote for the INDIA bloc candidate. Jan couldn’t be contacted for his comments.
BJP has two MPs including Dr Jitendra Singh and Jugal Kishore Sharma. Ghulam Ali Khatana, a nominated Rajya Sabha member also belongs to the BJP which will give the NDA candidate three votes from J&K.This is for the second time in the Vice President election that four Rajya Sabha members from Jammu and Kashmir will not be able to cast their votes as the seats remained vacant since February 2021, first in the absence of Assembly and then due to delay in conduct of elections.
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