Srinagar, Oct. 25 -- The National Conference (NC) won three Rajya Sabha seats while one seat went to the Bharatiya Janata Party during the elections in the J&K assembly on Friday. Among the winning NC candidates were Chowdhary Mohammad Ramzan, Sajad Ahmad Kichloo and Gurwinder Singh Oberoi (Shammi) while BJP's Sat Sharma clinched the fourth seat in a nail biting contest. During the election to four Rajya Sabha seats, which were held for the first time after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, 86 of the 88 MLAs exercised their votes while incarcerated MLA Doda Mehraj Malik cast his vote through a postal ballot. Chief Minister and NC vice-president Omar Abdullah led the voting process of his party. People's Conference president Sajad Lone, who termed the elections as a "fixed match" between the ruling National Conference and the opposition BJP, chose to abstain from voting. Ramzan, who secured 58 votes, has been a four-time MLA from the Handwara assembly constituency. He defeated BJP's Ali Mohammad. Kichloo, who also secured 58 votes, was party's MLA from the Kishtwar assembly seat in 2002 and 2008. He defeated BJP's Rakesh Mahajan. Oberoi has been associated with NC for a long time serving as its treasurer. "Feeling happy that we have won three seats, though unfortunately we lost one. As we go to Parliament, we will be the voice of the people of J&K," said Oberoi, who secured 31 votes. BJP's J&K unit president Sat Sharma managed to secure the fourth seat, defeating NC's Imran Nabi Dar by 10 votes. "He secured 32 votes leaving Imran with 22 votes," BJP spokesperson Sajad Yousuf said. The elections were held under three notifications with seat 3 and 4 going to polls under a single notification. For seat 1 and 2, a candidate had to secure a minimum 45 seats while for seats 3 and 4, a minimum of 29 or 30 votes each were needed. In the 88-member assembly, the BJP has 28 MLAs. BJP's win indicates there may have been cross-voting and rejection of some votes or both. "We don't need to buy anyone if they are ready to come to us on their own. the NC tried to consolidate the votes on the basis of religion and region," BJP's leader of opposition in the assembly Sunil Sharma had said earlier in the day after being asked about allegations of horse-trading. CM Omar Abdullah said all NC MLAs voted for their candidates. "All of the NC votes remained intact across the four elections as witnessed by our election agent. There was no cross-voting from any of our MLAs so the question arises where did the four extra votes of the BJP come from? Who were the MLAs who deliberately invalidated their votes by marking a wrong preference number? Do they have the guts to put their hands up and own up to helping the BJP after promising us their votes?" he asked. Earlier there was a speculation that NC, with 41 MLAs, would win all the seats as the Congress, the Peoples Democratic Party and the independents had indicated their support for the party. While the MLAs associated with parties need to show their votes to their respective party agents, there is no such need for independents. In the 88-member assembly, the Congress has six MLAs, PDP has three, CPIM one, Awami Ittehad Party one, AAP one (Mehraj Malik), BJP 28 and seven independents. Mehraj's vote was expected to go to the NC as he was supportive of the ruling coalition. Celebrations erupted outside the J&K state assembly where NC workers and supporters had gathered. In north Kashmir's Handwara, festivities were at its peak in the town's main square with people bursting firecrackers on the win of Chowdhary Ramzan. "The PM should accept that the people of J&K are with the NC. We have won in assembly elections and now in the Rajya Sabha elections as well. Our statehood should be restored immediately," said an NC supporter. BJP workers also celebrated in Srinagar raising slogans and organising a flag rally....