Azad scrapes through in Rajya Sabha poll

Leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha and Congress heavyweight Ghulam Nabi Azad survived a close call on Saturday as he was re-elected to the Upper House by just two votes from Jammu & Kashmir.  

Azad, the candidate for the Congress and National Conference, collected 30 votes against BJP’s Chander Mohan Sharma’s 28 to emerge victorious in the narrowest of margins.

The victory was the only positive news for the opposition, as the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and BJP combine swept the other three seats from the state.  PDP’s Fayaz Ahmed Mir and Nazir Ahmad Laway emerged victorious along with BJP’s Shamsher Singh Manhas.

Azad was fighting for political survival as the BJP and PDP, contesting the elections as an alliance, fielded two candidates each and were hoping to make a clean sweep of the polls.
In the end, Azad survived thanks to support from the three independent MLAs from the valley -Mohammad Yosuf Tarigami, Hakim Mohammad Yasin and Sheikh Abdul Rashid.

PDP remains the single largest party in the 87-seat J&K Assembly, while the BJP remains a close second with 25 seats.