Jammu and Kashmir is holding its first Rajya Sabha elections today, October 24, 2025, since the reorganisation of the state in 2019. This election marks a significant moment as the region seeks to fill its four Rajya Sabha seats, which have remained vacant since 2021 due to the absence of an elected Assembly.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the polling date on September 24, 2025, setting the stage for a contest that is not just about arithmetic but also about political assertion in the region's evolving landscape. The last date for nominations was October 13, with the counting of votes scheduled to take place on the evening of October 24, an hour after the conclusion of polling.
In this election, Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) will elect the Rajya Sabha members. The J&K Legislative Assembly currently has 88 members, with two seats vacant. The National Conference (NC) is leading an alliance supported by the Congress and the People's Democratic Party (PDP), challenging the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in what is anticipated to be a closely watched political battle.
The NC has nominated Chowdhary Muhammad Ramzan, Sajjad Ahmad Kichloo, Shammi Oberoi, and Imran Nabi Dar as their candidates, signaling their intent to secure all four seats. Meanwhile, the BJP has fielded Sat Sharma, Ali Muhammad Mir, and Rakesh Mahajan, hoping to win at least one seat through strategic floor management and potential cross-voting.
The ECI has issued three separate notifications for the four Rajya Sabha seats, treating each notification as an independent election. This means that MLAs will vote separately for each seat, and votes will not be transferable between them. For a single-seat election, a candidate requires 45 votes to win, while in a two-seat contest, the quota is 30.
Based on current political equations, the NC-Congress alliance has the support of 57 MLAs, including 41 from NC, six from Congress, six independents, three from PDP, and one from CPI(M), while the BJP has 28 MLAs. The choices of two MLAs, Mehraj Malik and Sheikh Khursheed, remain undisclosed.
The Congress and PDP have extended their support to the NC to block the BJP and protect the I.N.D.I.A. bloc's stability. PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti announced that her party would vote for the National Conference, expecting support for their private member bills in return.
The BJP is relying on the organisational skills of the Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, Sunil Sharma, and the possibility of strategic abstentions from rival MLAs to gain ground. The J&K Peoples Conference (JKPC) has announced that it will abstain from the Rajya Sabha election.
This election is the first Rajya Sabha election in Jammu and Kashmir since it became a Union Territory. All four seats have been vacant since February 2021, after the terms of Mir Mohammad Fayaz, Shamsher Singh, Ghulam Nabi Azad, and Nazir Ahmed Laway ended.
Polling is being held on Friday from 9 am to 4 pm, followed by counting at 5 pm. The outcome of the fourth seat is particularly significant, where the National Conference and the BJP each have 28 MLAs. The MLAs will cast their votes at three separate polling booths set up in the Legislative Assembly complex.
For the NC, a clean sweep would reaffirm its dominance and strengthen its alliance leadership. For the BJP, winning even one seat would represent a symbolic victory, demonstrating its presence in J&K's evolving political landscape.
