Election Commission Announces Rajya Sabha By-Elections for Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu) : The Election Commission of India has announced by-elections to the Rajya Sabha in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab. Voting for the four Rajya Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir and one in Punjab will be held on October 24, the commission said. The counting of votes will also take place on the same day, the Election Commission said.

According to the schedule released by the Election Commission, the notification for the four Rajya Sabha seats from Jammu and Kashmir will be issued on October 6. The last date for filing nominations will be October 13, while nominations can be withdrawn until October 16. The same process will be followed for the one Rajya Sabha seat from Punjab. The Commission informed that voting for the by-elections for the Rajya Sabha seats will continue from 9 am to 4 pm on October 24. Counting of votes will begin at 5 pm on the same day.

Rajya Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir have been vacant for nearly four years. The terms of four Rajya Sabha MPs—Ghulam Nabi Azad, Shamsher Singh Manhas, Nazir Ahmad Laway, and Fayaz Ahmad Mir—ended in February 2021. Elections for these seats could not be held previously because Jammu and Kashmir was under President's rule until October 2024. Now that the Union Territory has an elected assembly, the Election Commission has announced the dates for the Rajya Sabha elections. The last Rajya Sabha elections in Jammu and Kashmir were held in February 2015, when it was a full-fledged state. Following the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, Jammu and Kashmir was declared a Union Territory. Now, for the first time, Rajya Sabha elections will be held in Jammu and Kashmir as a Union Territory.

In the 2015 Rajya Sabha elections, the BJP-PDP alliance won three seats, and the National Conference-Congress alliance won one. However, the ruling National Conference has consistently raised the issue of vacant Rajya Sabha seats from Jammu and Kashmir.

The Punjab Rajya Sabha seat fell vacant in July following the resignation of MP Sanjeev Arora. Arora is now a minister in the Punjab government. He recently won the by-election from the Ludhiana West assembly seat on an Aam Aadmi Party ticket.