Srinagar, Sep 24 (KNO): The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday announced the schedule for biennial elections to the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) from the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir.
According to a notification issued by the poll body, a copy of which is in possession of the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), the Commission will issue the notification for these seats on October 6.
It further states that the last date for filing nominations is October 13, while scrutiny of nominations will take place on October 14.
Voting will be held on October 24 between 9:00 AM and 4:00 PM, the notification states. The counting of votes will take place on the same day at 5:00 PM.
The four Rajya Sabha seats—previously held by Mir Mohammad Fayaz, Shamsher Singh, Ghulam Nabi Azad, and Nazir Ahmed Laway—have remained vacant since their retirement in February 2021.
The delay in holding elections was attributed to the absence of a valid electorate following the bifurcation of the erstwhile state into two Union Territories: Jammu & Kashmir (with legislature) and Ladakh (without legislature), under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.
With the recent constitution of the Legislative Assembly in Jammu & Kashmir, the required electoral body is now in place, paving the way for elections to fill the long-pending vacancies.
The Commission clarified that the four seats will be filled through three separate elections—one each for the members who retired on February 10, 2021, and a combined election for the two who retired on February 15, 2021.
The ECI’s decision aligns with a 1994 Delhi High Court ruling, which upheld the practice of holding separate elections for seats categorized distinctly from inception.
The tenure of the newly elected members will be subject to the outcome of a pending Supreme Court case—SLP(C) No. 17123/2015 (Election Commission of India vs. Devesh Chandra Thakur & Others)—(KNO)