Elections to 4 Rajya Sabha seats in J-K and 1 seat in Punjab on October 24

Election to four vacant Rajya Sabha seats in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and bypoll to one vacant Rajya Sabha seat in Punjab will be held on October 24, the Election Commission said on Wednesday.

The four Upper House seats from J&K have been lying vacant since February 2021, while one seat from Punjab had fallen vacant on July 1 after sitting MP from AAP Sanjeev Arora resigned following his election to the Punjab Assembly from Ludhiana West seat. A first-time MP, Arora was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Punjab on April 10, 2022, and his term was to otherwise end on April 9, 2028.

In J&K, Mir Mohammad Fayaz and Shamsher Singh had retired on February 10, 2021, while Ghulam Nabi Azad and Nazir Ahmed Laway on February 15, 2021.

According to a notification issued by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday, the four Rajya Sabha seats of J&K were lying vacant since the expiration of the term of office of the sitting members due to non-availability of the required electorate to conduct the elections at the time of occurrence of the said vacancies, as the erstwhile state had been bifurcated into two union territories of J&K and Ladakh on August 5, 2019. Now, since the state Legislative Assembly has been constituted in J&K and there is required electorate to conduct the biennial elections to the Council of States, the poll will be held on October 24.

Notifications for all the seats of J&K and Punjab will be issued on October 6, while the last date for filing nominations is October 13. Scrutiny of nominations will be done on October 14, while the last date for withdrawal of candidature is October 16.

The polls will be held between 9 am and 4 pm on October 24, while counting of votes will take place on the same day at 5 pm.