Rajya Sabha polls for 4 J-K seats vacant since 2021 on Oct 24: EC

Biennial elections to fill four Rajya Sabha seats from Jammu and Kashmir, which have been lying vacant since 2021, will be held on October 24, the Election Commission said on Wednesday.

Separately, Rajya Sabha bypoll to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of AAP member from Punjab Sanjeev Arora will also be held on October 24.

He had resigned following his election to the Punjab assembly. His Rajya Sabha term was to otherwise end on April 9, 2028.

The Rajya Sabha elections for the four Jammu and Kashmir seats are being held nearly a year after the assembly polls were held in the union territory.

MLAs elect Rajya Sabha members of their respective states.

The union territory has been unrepresented in the Upper House of Parliament since February 15, 2021, the day when Ghulam Nabi Azad and Nazir Ahmed Laway finished their term.

Two other members, Fayaz Ahmed Mir and Shamsheer Singh Manhas, had completed their term on February 10, the same year.

While announcing the schedule, the EC said 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, four sitting members of the Rajya Sabha representing the existing State of Jammu and Kashmir will be deemed to have been elected to fill 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, it noted.

The counting of votes will take place in the evening of October 24, an hour after polling concludes.