Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir BJP president Sat Sharma on Saturday said he won the fourth Rajya Sabha seat from the Union Territory despite Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s attempts to “divide people on Jammu versus Kashmir lines.”
Speaking to reporters after returning from Kashmir, Sharma described the outcome as a “historic victory” for the BJP. He was accorded a grand welcome by party workers and supporters at Jammu airport and taken in a procession to the party headquarters in Trikuta Nagar, where slogans were raised in support of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The BJP also dismissed People’s Conference leader Sajad Gani Lone’s allegation that the Rajya Sabha election was a “fixed match” between the National Conference (NC) and the BJP.
In Friday’s polls—the first Rajya Sabha elections in J&K since its reorganisation in 2019—the NC bagged three seats, while the BJP secured one. Sharma defeated NC’s Imran Nabi Dar with 32 votes to 22 under the third notification, while NC’s Gurwinder Singh Oberoi also got elected with 31 votes.
“In the third notification, the BJP emerged as the biggest party. I didn’t offer anything to anyone; I simply asked legislators to vote as per their conscience. This time, we received four votes; next time, forty more will side with us,” Sharma said.
Reacting to Lone’s charge that the NC “gifted” seven votes to the BJP, Sharma said, “What he’s saying has no meaning. Why didn’t he vote? Abstaining from voting is undemocratic.”
Addressing party workers, Sharma said, “This is a historic victory for the BJP. We won from the soil of Kashmir despite Omar Abdullah’s efforts to polarise legislators. He urged them to unite against the BJP, which won 29 seats from Jammu in the 2024 Assembly elections. I dedicate this win to the Prime Minister and our workers. We’ll continue to serve the people under ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas.’”
He added that the large turnout of BJP workers braving the cold to celebrate the win outside the Civil Secretariat showed the party’s growing strength in the Valley.
“Kashmir has changed—people can freely walk through Lal Chowk and take pictures without fear,” he said, expressing confidence about winning the upcoming Nagrota and Budgam Assembly bypolls on November 11.
Leader of Opposition Sunil Sharma thanked the seven legislators who “rejected” the NC and voted for the BJP.
“We don’t know them, but they’ve sent a clear message of dissent against the government. We welcome their support,” he said, reiterating that the party made no direct contact with any legislator and only appealed for votes against the government’s “anti-people” policies.
He too dismissed Lone’s “fixed match” allegation.
Meanwhile, BJP’s dissident leader Jahanzaib Sirwal condemned what he termed “shameful horse-trading” during the polls.
“It’s disheartening that horse-trading and voting against party whips are being glorified as political masterstrokes. This reflects the moral decay of our political system,” Sirwal said in a statement, calling the celebration of such conduct a “shameful display of opportunism.”
