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1h ago

ECI Sets October 24 Rajya Sabha Polls for Four J&K Seats, Schedules Punjab Bypoll

The long-vacant seats can now be filled because the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly is in place, with winners’ terms contingent on a pending Supreme Court matter.

For all five seats, notifications will be issued on October 6, and the final date for submitting nominations is October 13.
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Overview

  • The Commission will issue notifications on October 6, accept nominations until October 13, scrutinize on October 14, allow withdrawals until October 16, hold polling from 9 am to 4 pm on October 24, and count votes at 5 pm the same day, with completion by October 28.
  • The four vacancies in Jammu and Kashmir will be filled through three separate elections as they fall in different cycles, consistent with a 1994 Delhi High Court ruling.
  • All four seats have been vacant since February 2021 due to the absence of a constituted electorate at the time, a gap closed after the 2024 Assembly elections in the Union Territory.
  • The tenure of members elected from Jammu and Kashmir will be subject to the outcome of SLP No. 17123/2015 (ECI vs Devesh Chandra Thakur & Others) pending before the Supreme Court.
  • The ECI detailed safeguards including appointed observers and the mandatory use of integrated violet sketch pens for marking preferences, and it set a simultaneous Rajya Sabha bypoll in Punjab following Sanjeev Arora’s July 1 resignation.