Nomination process begins for 4 RS seats
Srinagar, Oct 6: The Election Commission on Monday announced the schedule for the by-election to Budgam and Nagrota assembly constituencies of J&K, along duty the Bihar election schedule.
Addressing a media conference in New Delhi, the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Gyanesh Kumar, said that voting in the Budgam and Nagrota assembly constituencies of J&K will be held on November 11 and the votes would be counted on November 14.
Budgam Assembly seat in the Valley fell vacant when the National Conference (NC) candidate and the incumbent Chief Minister Omar Abdullah won the 2024 Assembly elections from both Budgam and Ganderbal Assembly constituencies, but chose to retain Ganderbal and resigned from Budgam constituency.
Nagrota Assembly seat was won by the BJP candidate, Devender Singh Rana, who passed away in October 2024, and the seat fell vacant.
J&K legislative assembly has 90 seats, out of which 47 are in the Valley and 43 are in the Jammu division.
At present, the NC has 42, the BJP 29, the Congress 6, the PDP 3, CPI M 1, PC 1, AIP 1, AAP 1 and 6 were independent candidates, five out of whom later joined the NC.
J&K has five Lok Sabha seats, out of which two are represented by the BJP and two by the NC, while one is represented by the incarcerated AIP leader, Engineer Rashid.
Engineer Rashid won the Baramulla Lok Sabha seat while he was in Tihar Jail. He defeated the NC candidate, Omar Abdullah, by more than 2 lakh votes.
Meanwhile, the nomination process for the Rajya Sabha polls from Jammu & Kashmir began today, with the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the Returning Officer issuing three separate notifications for the election to four seats that have remained vacant for more than four and a half years.
The poll body issued the notifications on Monday morning, announcing the schedule for the elections to the four seats. These notifications were issued following the President of India, through three separate notifications issued by Union Government, called the elected members of the Legislative Assembly of the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir to elect members to the Upper House of Parliament.
Three separate elections are being held for the four seats. While two individual elections will be conducted for the first and second seats, a combined election will be held for the remaining two seats.
According to the notifications issued by the Election Commission of India, October 13 is the last date for filing nominations. Scrutiny of nominations will take place on October 14.
Candidates may withdraw their nomination forms until October 16. Polling will be held on October 24, and counting will take place on the same day. The entire election process will be completed by October 28.
Following the ECI’s notifications, the Returning Officer for the polls-the Secretary of the Legislative Assembly-also issued three separate notifications for the election to these seats.
As per the notifications, nomination papers can be submitted by a candidate or any of their proposers to the Returning Officer (Secretary, Legislative Assembly) or the Assistant Returning Officer (Additional Secretary, Legislative Assembly) at their offices within the premises of the J&K Legislative Assembly Secretariat, Srinagar, between 11 AM and 3 PM on any working day (excluding public holidays) no later than October 13.
As previously reported, the National Conference-Congress alliance is expected to comfortably secure three of the four seats, while the BJP is in a strong position to win the fourth. (With inputs from KNO)
