'BJP Can’t Win Without Horse Trading': Omar Abdullah On Jammu Kashmir Rajya Sabha Battle
Omar Abdullah said the Rajya Sabha elections will expose the friends and opponents of the BJP among the MLAs.
Published : October 13, 2025 at 3:37 PM IST
Srinagar: As the candidates of the National Conference (NC) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday submitted their nominations for the Rajya Sabha elections scheduled for October 24, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and NC Vice President Omar Abdullah said that the BJP cannot win even one seat without doing horse trading.
“As numbers go, the BJP is not in a position to win one seat. It has 28 MLAs, and they need 30 to win the fourth seat. There is not a single MLA other than the 28 of the BJP that has shown support to the BJP in the last year. If they are claiming they are going to win three seats, they are using money, muscle power and the power of the agencies. Let’s see if they win,” Omar said in Srinagar.
Omar said the Rajya Sabha elections will expose the friends and opponents of the BJP among the MLAs. His indication was targeted at the seven legislators: three from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the lone MLA of the Peoples Conference, Sajad Lone; one independent MLA, Sheikh Khursheed, aligned with Engineer Rashid’s Awami Ittehad Party (AIP); and the Aam Aadmi Party’s jailed MLA, Mehraj Malik, who will need the court’s permission to vote.
“Anybody who votes for the BJP or abstains from the elections is a friend of the BJP because in three out of the four elections there are candidates against the BJP,” he said.
Reacting to the Congress’s refusal to contest the fourth seat offered by the NC, Omar said that Congress had the “best chances, but they felt it otherwise”. The ruling party has fielded its state Spokesperson, Imran Nabi Dar, as its candidate for the fourth seat.
Meanwhile, the politics over the Rajya Sabha polls have intensified after the six candidates of both parties submitted their forms before the Returning Officer of the Election Commission of India, who is the Secretary of the Legislative Assembly.
BJP president Sat Sharma, who is a strong contender for the fourth seat, and two other candidates, Ali Muhammad Mir and Rakesh Mahajan, submitted papers. The NC’s three, Choudhary Muhammad Ramzan, Sajad Kichloo and Shammi Oberoi, also submitted their papers.
Per the ECI notifications, the deadline for filing nominations ends today, followed by scrutiny on October 14 and the withdrawal deadline on October 16. Voting by legislators is scheduled for October 24.
Based on current vote arithmetic, the three NC candidates contesting appear to succeed, while the BJP’s Sharma is in an advantageous position for the fourth seat, which will see a contest between the NC and the BJP. With its 28 MLAs, the BJP has a numerical advantage over the NC’s projected 24 votes for this seat. The Congress party, with six legislators, pulled out of the contest against the BJP for the fourth seat after being denied candidature by the NC in the safe seats.
In spite of the numbers against their two candidates, the BJP hoped for victory for all three contestants. “This is a non-party basis election, and we hope the MLAs will support our candidates. It is incorrect to say that there will be cross-voting by MLAs or that the BJP will buy votes,” Dr Jatinder Singh, Minister for State in the Prime Minister’s office, said.
The Assembly currently has 88 sitting members in the 90-member House. One seat fell vacant following the death of BJP legislator Davender Singh Rana in November last year, while another became vacant after NC Vice President Omar Abdullah resigned from the Budgam constituency, choosing to retain Ganderbal—his family’s traditional stronghold, having won both seats in the 2024 election.
The NC commands the support of 41 MLAs and is backed by six Congress legislators, five Independents, and CPI(M) leader Yousuf Tarigami, bringing its total to 53 votes. The BJP holds 28 MLAs, while the remaining votes are divided among smaller parties: PDP (3), Peoples Conference (1), Aam Aadmi Party (1), and one Independent MLA, Sheikh Khursheed, aligned with Engineer Rashid’s Awami Ittehad Party (AIP).
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