NC was ‘betrayed by supporters’, Abdullahs say, after losing one Rajya Sabha seat from J&K

A day after the BJP pulled a surprise by winning one of the four Rajya Sabha seats from Jammu and Kashmir, National Conference (NC) leaders said on Saturday (October 25, 2025) that they had been “betrayed by our own people”.

“We could have won all four seats. Those who promised us betrayed us. Such things happen in elections,” NC president Farooq Abdullah said.

BJP candidate Sat Sharma bagged 32 votes against the NC candidate Imran Nabi Dar’s 22 votes, even though the BJP only has 28 members in the J&K Assembly. Most Independent MLAs and regional parties had claimed to be supporting the NC.

‘Refused BJP request’

The senior Abdullah claimed that the BJP had approached the NC ahead of the polling. “They came to us and asked us to give away a seat without a contest. We refused and came to the field and fought,” Dr. Abdullah said.

The NC won the remaining three Rajya Sabha seats from J&K and Dr. Abdullah thanked the Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti, the Congress, and Independents for “standing with” them.

‘Betrayed’

NC vice president and J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the NC had been betrayed by those people “who attended our meetings and ate with us”. 

“I am satisfied that not a single NC vote went astray. All the NC voters showed their vote to the chief agent. It would have been better if they had openly said they wanted to support the BJP, like our MLA from Handwara did,” Mr. Abdullah said.

However, Handwara MLA Sajad Gani Lone, who heads the J&K Peoples Conference, claimed that the NC had in fact supported the BJP. “NC legislators assisted the BJP in securing one of the four seats. The extra votes that went to the BJP came from the NC. Seven of their members supported the BJP. This was not cross-voting from others; they did it themselves,” Mr. Lone said. He had abstained from voting. 

Ms. Mufti, the PDP chief, congratulated the NC’s Choudhary Muhammad Ramzan Sahab, Sajjad Kichloo, and Shami Oberoi on being elected to the Rajya Sabha. “I hope they will use this platform to strongly represent and speak up for the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” she said in a post on X.