Dr. Farooq Abdullah, former Chief Minister of J & K and President of National Conference, was elected to Rajya Sabha along with his party colleague Mohammad Shafi Uri, on Friday (February 13).

 

According to the returning officer, while Farooq Abdulla polled 27 votes, his party man Mohammad Shafi Uri secured 25 votes in the third and final round of elections, held through Single Transferable Vote System.With this, all four seats of Rajya Sabha in the state are now filled.  

 

The other contestants in the fray were Syed Mohammad Altaf of the opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP) who got 23 votes in the first round and independent candidate, Ashok Vijay Gupta, who got 11 votes in the first round. They were eliminated in the third and second rounds respectively.

 

Interestingly, on Feb 6, union Water Resources Minister Saif-ud-Din Soz and former chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, both belonging to the Congress Party, were declared elected unopposed.

 

In November last year, all the four Rajya Sabha seats of Jammu and Kashmir had fallen vacant. However, elections for the same could not be held since the state assembly elections were due to be held in December. The state assembly polls which were completed by December 24 and the results declared on December 28 saw National Conference coming to power in J & K.

 

As many as 85 members, in the 86-member state assembly, cast their votes while one member abstained. One assembly seat had fallen vacant due to the resignation of Farooq Abdullah, who had won from two assembly constituencies in December elections.