Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) president Tariq Hamid Karra on Sunday announced that the Congress will not contest the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections scheduled for October 24, citing the National Conference’s refusal to offer a “safe seat” to the party.
Speaking to reporters after a marathon meeting of party leaders in Srinagar, Karra said the decision to stay out of the elections was taken unanimously.
He explained that while the Congress high command had requested one of the two Rajya Sabha seats being contested under a separate notification, the National Conference offered one from the two seats that are being contested under a common notification.
“All the participants agreed that seat number four is not as safe as seat number one or two. Therefore, it was unanimously decided not to field any candidate for seat number four and leave the decision to our alliance partners,” Karra said.
“Since the safe seat was not offered to us, we have chosen not to contest,” he added.
The National Conference has already announced three candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls, signaling that it intends to use its Assembly strength to secure all three seats. While the NC candidates are expected to win comfortably, the fourth seat will require the combined support of all anti-BJP legislators to ensure a complete sweep for the ruling alliance.
These include three MLAs from the PDP, and one each from the People’s Conference, Awami Ittehad Party, and AAP, whose votes will be crucial for the alliance’s fourth nominee.
Karra said the party also held extensive discussions on the functioning of the opposition alliance, the Rajya Sabha elections, and the upcoming Assembly bypolls for the Budgam and Nagrota constituencies.
“Some legislators expressed concerns about governance and administrative matters, but today’s meeting was mainly focused on the Rajya Sabha elections,” he said.
He added that the party leadership would initiate talks with the National Conference regarding the bypolls and forward the inputs from members to the Congress central leadership for further direction.
