Rajya Sabha Elections for four J&K seats on October 24
Srinagar, Sept 24 (KINS): The Election Commission on Wednesday announced that biennial elections to fill four vacant Rajya Sabha seats from Jammu and Kashmir will be held on October 24. These seats have remained unoccupied since 2021.
Alongside, a bypoll for one Rajya Sabha seat from Punjab — vacated by AAP leader Sanjeev Arora following his election to the Punjab Assembly — will also be held on the same day. Arora’s term was originally set to run until April 9, 2028.
The upcoming Rajya Sabha elections in Jammu and Kashmir come nearly a year after the assembly polls in the Union Territory, marking the first time since February 2021 that the region will get representation in the Upper House.
The four seats have been vacant since February 2021, when the terms of former MPs Ghulam Nabi Azad, Nazir Ahmed Laway, Fayaz Ahmed Mir, and Shamsher Singh Manhas expired. Elections could not be held earlier due to the absence of a functional legislative assembly in the Union Territory.
With the formation of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, the necessary electorate is now available, paving the way for the polls. Voting will take place on October 24, with counting scheduled for the same evening, an hour after polling concludes.
The EC also recalled that following the bifurcation of the erstwhile state in 2019, Jammu and Kashmir retained four Rajya Sabha seats under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, while Ladakh, as a Union Territory without a legislature, has no representation in the Upper House.(KINS)
