India, Oct. 25 -- The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday sprung a surprise by snatching one Rajya Sabha (RS) seat from the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (NC), securing 32 votes, four more than its total strength of 28 in the house of 88 members.

Meanwhile, the NC comfortably won three seats after galvanising the support of its political opponents to defeat BJP candidates in the fray.Soon after the RS poll results were declared, a war of words broke out, raising questions over the identity of four legislators who voted in support of the BJP candidate. The elections were held for four RS seats from J&K, the first time since the abrogation of Article 370.

Voting commenced peacefully this morning at the Legislative Assembly comp...