Congress Opts Out Of Rajya Sabha Polls After Being Denied 'Safe Seat' By National Conference

The Congress has decided to opt out of the Rajya Sabha elections in Jammu and Kashmir after alliance partner, Omar Abdullah-led National Conference, refused it a "safe seat". The Rajya Sabha elections, scheduled for October 24, will four seats from Jammu and Kashmir which have been vacant since 2021.Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee president Tariq Hamid Karra announced that the Grand Old Party will not contest the October 24 Rajya Sabha elections to four seats in the Union territory. Karra said it has been unanimously agreed that the Congress will not contest the Rajya Sabha polls. The decision was taken following a marathon discussion over Rajya Sabha polls and by-election to two assembly seats - Budgam and Nagrota. The Congress central

leadership sought one of the two Rajya Sabha seats that are going to polls separately, but National Conference offered the party one of the two seats, which are going to polls under a common notification, Karra said."Keeping this in mind, all the participants (at the meeting) were of the opinion that seat four is not safe like seat one or two. It was unanimously decided that we will not put up our candidate for seat number four. We will leave it to our alliance partners to see what they think about that," Karra said, as quoted by PTI. He alleged, "Since the safe seat was not offered to us, we don't want to contest on seat four." While all three National Conference candidates are assured of victory even without the support of alliance partners, the fourth candidate of the ruling alliance will need every anti-BJP vote to ensure a clean sweep, the news agency reported. Meanwhile, the National Conference has already named its three candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls, indicating that it will use its strength in the Assembly to ensure all three emerge victorious. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has also named three candidates, including its Jammu and Kashmir unit president Sat Pal Sharma, for the elections to four Rajya Sabha seats in the Union Territory scheduled for October 24. Two other candidates are Ghulam Mohammed Mir and Rakesh Mahajan.