Rajya Sabha elections for 4 J&K seats vacant since 2021, plus Punjab bypoll, on October 24
According to ECI, J&K's four vacancies will be filled via three separate elections, since each falls under a different electoral cycle as per legal provisions.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) announced on Wednesday that elections to fill four Rajya Sabha seats from Jammu and Kashmir, vacant from 2021, are scheduled for October 24. A by-election for a vacant seat from Punjab will also be held on the same day. Vote counting will take place that evening, one hour after polling concludes.
- For all five seats, notifications will be issued on October 6, and the final date for submitting nominations is October 13.
- The scrutiny of nominations will take place on October 14, with the last date for withdrawal of candidatures set for October 16.
- Polling is scheduled from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm on October 24, and counting of votes will begin at 5:00 pm the same day.
According to the ECI notice, quoted by ANI, technically the four vacancies in Jammu and Kashmir will be filled through three separate elections, as each vacancy falls under a different electoral cycle, in line with legal provisions.
The Commission’s decision to conduct separate elections was previously challenged before the Delhi High Court in 1994 by the Indian National Congress, which argued that all three vacancies should be filled through a single election, given that Rajya Sabha elections are conducted under the system of proportional representation.
In Punjab, the seat fell vacant following the resignation of MP Sanjeev Arora in July, after his election to the Punjab assembly. His Rajya Sabha term was originally due to end on April 9, 2028.
The four seats in Jammu and Kashmir have remained vacant since 2021. The Rajya Sabha elections for these seats are being held nearly a year after the union territory’s assembly polls.
MLAs of the respective states and union territories elect Rajya Sabha members. Jammu and Kashmir has been unrepresented in the Upper House of Parliament since February 15 2021, when the terms of Ghulam Nabi Azad and Nazir Ahmed Laway ended. Two other members, Fayaz Ahmed Mir and Shamsheer Singh Manhas, had completed their terms on February 10 2021.
While announcing the schedule, the EC noted that the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir was bifurcated into the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir (with legislature) and Ladakh (without legislature).
According to the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, the four sitting Rajya Sabha members representing the former State of Jammu and Kashmir are deemed to have been elected to the seats allocated to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
“All four seats were lying vacant since the expiration of the term of the sitting members due to the non-availability of the required electorate to conduct the elections at the time of occurrence of the vacancies. After the constitution of the State Legislative Assembly of UT of Jammu and Kashmir, there is a required electorate to conduct the Biennial Elections,” the EC said.
