NC to be dominant party with 5 Members, BJP 4
*Cong, PDP without representation in both Houses
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Nov 8: For the first time after nearly four and half years, voice of Jammu and Kashmir will echo in the Rajya Sabha in its winter session starting December 1 and lasting till 19th as four vacancies to the House of Elders from the UT were filled last month. There will now be 10 MPs from J&K in the Parliament as against just six in the past.
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Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju today announced that winter session of the Parliament will be held from December 1-19 with 15 sittings.
Election for four Rajya Sabha seats from Jammu and Kashmir was held on October 24 with National Conference winning three seats and the BJP one. This has taken strength of elected Members of Parliament from Jammu and Kashmir to nine and total to 10 as Ghulam Ali Khatana, a BJP leader is Nominated Rajya Sabha member.
There will be five MPs each from Jammu and Kashmir in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha now.
NC has become dominant party in the Parliament with five MPs, followed by BJP four (three elected plus one nominated). Besides, Engineer Rashid is lone Independent MP from Baramulla seat of the Kashmir valley though he is presently in Tihar jail and had to take the Court permission to attend the House.
Other major parties from Jammu and Kashmir, mainly the Congress and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) have no presence in either House of the Parliament from J&K. In fact, Congress is without representation in Lok Sabha for the last three elections including 2014, 2019 and 2024. However, Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Chief Minister of J&K and ex Congress leader, represented the Congress in Rajya Sabha from 2015-2021 till completion of his six years term. He has since left the party and floated DPAP.
NC will be represented in the Parliament by Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi and Mian Altaf (Lok Sabha) and Choudhary Ramzan, Sajjad Ahmed Kitchloo and Gurwinder Singh Oberoi alias Shammi Oberoi (Rajya Sabha). Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh and Jugal Kishore Sharma are the BJP MPs in Lok Sabha for three consecutive terms having won Udhampur and Jammu seats. UT BJP Chief Sat Pal Sharma ‘CA’ will be third MP in the Parliament from J&K, who has been elected to the Rajya Sabha while Ghulam Ali Khatana, though a BJP leader, is a Nominated MP in the Upper House.
Engineer Rashid is lone Independent MP from Jammu and Kashmir in the Parliament. He created sensation by winning Baramulla Lok Sabha seat in 2024 Parliamentary polls defeating NC leader and now Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.
Ladakh UT has lone Lok Sabha member Mohammad Hanifa Jan. He won the seat in 2024 as an Independent candidate but has his affiliation with the National Conference. Ladakh was part of erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir till it became the Union Territory on August 5, 2019.
BJP won Ladakh seat for two consecutive terms in 2014 and 2019 but lost the election in 2024.
Like Congress, the PDP too has been biggest loser in terms of representation in the Parliament. The PDP won all three Lok Sabha seats of Kashmir in 2014 and two Rajya Sabha seats in 2015. However, that turned out to be the last victories for the party as it failed to secure single Lok Sabha seat in 2019 and 2024 Parliamentary polls. With just three MLAs, it was in no position to get its candidate even fill the form what to say of winning Rajya Sabha seat in the elections held last month.
All four Rajya Sabha candidates elected from Jammu and Kashmir in 2015 completed their term in February 2021. They include two from PDP and one each from BJP and Congress. The Rajya Sabha seats from J&K remained vacant thereafter initially in absence of the Legislature and then for unknown reasons.
While BJP’s Sat Pal Sharma has taken oath as the Rajya Sabha Member, all three NC MPs are yet to take oath.
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