Shadow Correspondent
Srinagar june 26:
The alliance partners in the Jammu and Kashmir government, National Conference (NC) and Congress on Thursday demanded that elections for Rajya Sabha seats must be held in Jammu and Kashmir so that the voice of the people is heard in the upper house.
All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary and In-charge Jammu and Kashmir, Syed Nasir Hussain, said that the Rajya Sabha is the council of states where members put issues of their respective states in the Parliament. “The voice of Jammu and Kashmir must be heard in the Rajya Sabha. It is very important that Rajya Sabha elections are held for Jammu and Kashmir,” Hussian said in a press conference. NC has also demanded the holding of elections for the Rajya Sabha. NC leader and Advisor to Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Nasir Aslam Wani, said that “we too have the right in Rajya Sabha as our seats are vacant there”
“When other states can have Rajya Sabha elections and members, why can’t Jammu and Kashmir. We don’t understand why there is a delay. We are eagerly waiting for Rajya Sabha elections so that we too have representation there,” Wani said.
Jammu and Kashmir has four seats in the Rajya Sabha, but they have been vacant since 2021 after the six-year term of former members of the PDP, Fayaz Mir and Nazir Laway, ended. The term of two BJP members also ended in 2021. PDP and BJP had shared two seats each when the Rajya Sabha polls were held in 2015, when Jammu and Kashmir was a state.Given the number of legislators in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly, the National Conference, which won 42 seats, has the support of six Congress legislators and four independents, is poised to win three seats. The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, which has 29 MLAs, can win one seat.
