Election for four vacant Rajya Sabha seats in J&K to be delayed further

Srinagar: Elections for the four vacant Rajya Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir are likely to be further delayed and are expected to take place only after the by-elections for the Nagrota and Budgam Assembly seats, scheduled for May-June.

Sources said that the Rajya Sabha elections, which have been pending since February 2021, will be held only after the completion of the Special Summary Revision (SSR) of the electoral rolls for two vacant Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly seats.

The Nagrota seat became vacant following the death of BJP MLA Devender Singh Rana, while the Budgam seat was vacated when Chief Minister Omar Abdullah retained the Ganderbal seat. The by-elections can be conducted only after the final rolls are published on May 5, following the completion of the SSR.

There also remains an outstanding issue regarding the nomination of five members to the Legislative Assembly, a provision that has not been fulfilled even after five and a half months since the formation of the government. This matter is currently pending before the Jammu and Kashmir High Court.

Jammu and Kashmir’s 90-member Legislative Assembly will be expanded to 95 members with the nomination of these five MLAs. The ruling National Conference-Congress alliance, which secured a majority in last year’s Assembly elections with 48 of the 90 seats, is expected to win three Rajya Sabha seats. Other parties, including CPM, AAP, and five Independents, have pledged their support to the alliance, increasing their tally to 55.

The four Rajya Sabha seats from Jammu and Kashmir have remained vacant since February 2021, after the terms of Ghulam Nabi Azad, Shamsher Singh Manhas, Nazir Ahmad Laway, and Fayaz Ahmad Mir ended.

The elections for these seats could not be conducted earlier as Jammu and Kashmir was under President's rule until October 2024. Although the Election Commission held Rajya Sabha elections for six other seats in late 2024, Jammu and Kashmir was excluded due to the incomplete Assembly.

The last Rajya Sabha elections in Jammu and Kashmir were held in February 2015, when the BJP-PDP alliance won three seats and the NC-Congress alliance secured one.