The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Jammu and Kashmir president Sat Pal Sharma, along with two other party candidates, on Monday filed nominations for three of the four long-vacant Rajya Sabha seats from the union Territory.
These seats have remained vacant since February 2021, and the elections are scheduled for October 24.
Sharma, accompanied by Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Dr. Jitendra Singh, Rajya Sabha MP Ghulam Ali Khatana, Leader of Opposition in the J&K Assembly Sunil Sharma, and several MLAs, submitted his nomination papers to the Returning Officer at the Assembly Secretariat complex amid tight security.
The other BJP nominees are Ali Mohammad Mir and Rakesh Mahajan. Mir and Mahajan will contest the first two seats, for which elections will be held separately due to distinct nosatpaltifications issued by the Election Commission.
The LOP Sunil Sharma said the party will make full efforts to win three seats.
“BJP is a strong party, and yesterday we decided our roadmap. We will make full efforts to win three seats and work hard for it,” said LoP before the filing of nominations by the party candidates.
The election for four vacant RS seats would be held on October 24.
Jammu and Kashmir’s four Rajya Sabha seats have been vacant since February 2021, when the terms of Ghulam Nabi Azad and Nazir Ahmad Laway ended on February 15, and those of Fayaz Ahmad Mir and Shamsher Singh Manhas expired on February 10.