Profiles of winners in Rajya Sabha elections in Jammu and Kashmir

Srinagar, Oct 24 (PTI) Here are the profiles of the three National Conference candidates and the BJP nominee who emerged victorious in the Rajya Sabha elections in Jammu and Kashmir -- the first since the erstwhile state was bifurcated and turned into a Union Territory.

1. Chowdry Mohammad Ramzan (National Conference) The 75-year-old leader is a four-time ex-MLA and a former minister, who was first elected to the legislative assembly in 1983 from Handwara in Kupwara district of north Kashmir.

He retained the seat in the 1987 and 1996 elections. After losing in the 2002 polls, Ramzan returned to the assembly in 2008. However, he lost to Sajad Gani Lone in the 2014 and 2024 assembly elections.

Ramzan was a minister in the Farooq Abdullah government in 1996.

2. Sajad Ahmad Kitchloo (National Conference) Kitchloo (60) comes from an influential political family from the Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir. His father, Bashir Ahmad Kitchloo, was an important leader of the party and held key portfolios in the Farooq Abdullah Government in the 1980s and in 1996.

The senior Kitchloo died in 2001 when he was the social welfare minister. Sajad jumped into electoral politics and won the Kishtwar seat in the 2002 polls. He retained the seat in the 2008 elections.

However, Sajad Ahmad Kitchloo lost the assembly polls in 2014 and 2024. He was elected as an MLC in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Council in 2015.

3. Gurwinder Singh Oberoi (National Conference) The 56-year-old is the first Sikh MP from Jammu and Kashmir. Also known as Shammi Oberoi, he is a businessman and holds a diploma in hotel management.

Currently, the National Conference's treasurer, Oberoi, is the son of late party leader and MLC Dharamveer Singh Oberoi. His father was also the chief polling agent of Omar Abdullah during his Parliamentary election in 1999.

Shammi Oberoi rose to prominence in the NC after Devender Singh Rana left the party in October 2021. He played a key role in securing the support of the PDP and the Congress for the Rajya Sabha polls.

He is considered a key aide of both party president Farooq Abdullah and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, and was appointed party treasurer in March 2017.

4. Sat Sharma (BJP) The president of the BJP's Jammu and Kashmir unit, 64-year-old Sharma, is a chartered accountant by profession. He was appointed the BJP's J-K chief after last year's assembly elections in the Union Territory.

This is his second stint as the head of J-K BJP. He had headed the BJP here from 2015 to 2018.

Sharma was a minister in the PDP-BJP coalition government for two months. He won the 2014 assembly election from the Jammu West Assembly constituency on a BJP ticket.

He, however, lost the 2024 assembly elections despite his party winning 29 seats. PTI SSB MIJ NSD NSD