At INDIA meet, Farooq flags delay in poll to four RS seats

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah is learnt to have voiced concern over the delay in holding Rajya Sabha elections in the Union Territory, where all four seats have been vacant since 2021, as well as over the restoration of statehood.

The National Conference leader is said to have raised both issues during a meeting of INDIA bloc leaders at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s residence on August 7.

The four Upper House seats from J&K have been vacant since February 2021, and the Election Commission of India (ECI) is yet to announce a schedule for the polls, despite Assembly elections being held in the Union Territory in September-October last year.

When asked about plans to announce the Rajya Sabha elections, the ECI did not respond. According to sources, Abdullah stressed that although nearly a year has passed since the Assembly polls, there has been no announcement regarding the filling of the four Rajya Sabha vacancies. He is also said to have reiterated the demand for the much-anticipated restoration of statehood to J&K.

Meanwhile, Congress MP Manish Tewari on Friday drew attention to the fact that in Punjab, J&K and Delhi, all Rajya Sabha members retire together, a situation arising from extended periods of President’s Rule or lack of nominations. He suggested that the matter should be referred for Presidential consideration.

Referring to Article 83 of the Constitution, Tewari noted that Rajya Sabha elections are meant to be held biennially, with one-third of members retiring every two years. However, this has not been the case in Punjab, J&K or Delhi, where members have retired simultaneously, leaving all seats vacant at once.

“I had raised this issue in 1992 as a young lawyer by writing to the @ECISVEEP and taking the matter to court,” Tewari posted on X. The Constitutional question, he added, that should be sent for a Presidential reference, is the interplay between Article 83 — which states “but as nearly as possible one-third of the members thereof shall retire as soon as may be on the expiration of every second year” — and Section 154(1) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which mandates that a Rajya Sabha member’s term shall be six years.