Azad retains RS seat; PDP, BJP share other 3

Senior Congress leader and leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad was re-elected to the Upper House on Saturday along with two members from the People's Democratic Party and one from the Bharatiya Janata Party from Jammu and Kashmir.

While the BJP and the PDP were expected to win three of the four Rajya Sabha seats for which polling was held on Saturday, the real contest was for the fourth seat that Mr Azad was contesting in a bid to retain his Rajya Sabha seat.

“It is a big victory and a boost for the Congress party and we are very happy about it,” Ghulam Nabi Monga, vice-president of the Jammu Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee, told

The Hindu .

Nazir Ahmad Laway and Fayaz Ahmad Mir of the PDP were elected to the first and third seats while Shamsher Singh Manhas of the BJP was elected under the second notification.

“This is a very significant win for us. We have never had such a strong representation in Parliament,” PDP chief spokesperson Naeem Akhter told The Hindu .

“This is also the first time that NC has been wiped out from the Rajya Sabha.”