People’s Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday said that her party will support the Jammu and Kashmir’s ruling National Conference in the Rajya Sabha elections to four seats.

The polling for the four Rajya Sabha seats from the Union Territory, which have been vacant since 2021, will take place on Friday.

Mufti said that her party is willing to support three out of National Conference’s four candidates in the polls.

She expressed hope that, in turn, her party will receive support for its private member bills in the ongoing Assembly session, The Indian Express reported.

Mufti further said that she had spoken with National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah a few days earlier, adding that one of the ruling party’s candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls, Shammi Oberoi, had also visited her.

“They have given us assurance and we are putting our faith in his word,” The Indian Express quoted the People’s Democratic Party chief as saying. “[Chief Minister] Omar [Abdullah] sahab has also said that they will not obstruct any pro-people bill.”

The People’s Democratic Party will support the National Conference candidate as “third preference”, adding that although the ruling party did not “deserve it, our intent is that fascist and communal forces must be stopped at all costs”.

Mufti sought the ruling party’s support for two key bills it will introduce in the Assembly session: a proposed land rights bill (also informally called the “anti-bulldozer” bill) and a regularisation of daily wagers bill, The Indian Express reported.

The former chief minister said that she decided to support the National Conference as the broader goal was “to safeguard the rights” of the residents of Jammu and Kashmir, adding that the Opposition INDIA bloc was also fighting a “bigger battle”.

The National Conference and the People’s Democratic Party are part of the Opposition INDIA bloc at the national level, but opponents in the Union Territory.

Mufti said that the PDP will not support the National Conference’s fourth candidate. “When they lose that seat, they will place the blame on the PDP,” the newspaper quoted her as saying.

Apart from Oberoi, the National Conference has fielded Chowdhary Mohammad Ramzan, Sajad Kitchloo and Imran Nabi Dar for the Rajya Sabha seats.

The ruling party had offered the fourth seat to the Congress, The Indian Express reported. However, the Congress backed out as the projected numbers did not seem favourable for a win.

On Thursday, the Congress extended its support to the four National Conference candidates.

Mubarak Gul, the National Conference’s chief whip said on Friday that the party was “very grateful” to the Congress, PDP and other allied partners for extending support, ANI reported.

“We will win all four seats,” he further asserted.

All four seats in the Rajya Sabha have been vacant after the expiration of the term of the sitting members in 2021 because there was no Legislative Assembly in the Union Territory at the time, The Hindu had quoted the Election Commission as saying.

The retired members were Mir Mohammad Fayaz, Shamsher Singh, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Nazir Ahmed Laway.

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