WAJAHAT SHABIR
SRINAGAR: The Election Commission of India Tuesday ruled out the possibility of bye-polls elections on two seats in Jammu and Kashmir as of now amid snowy conditions.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC)+ Rajiv Kumar, flanked by Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and S S Sandhu, made these remarks while making an announcement on assembly polls of New Delhi.
Addressing a news conference, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said that they are not announcing the schedule for bye-polls in Budgam and Nagrota today due to the snowy conditions in the region. The CEC mentioned they have until April 20 to hold the electoral exercise.
Legislative Assembly elections were held in Jammu and Kashmir from 18 September to 1 October 2024 in 3 phases to elect 90 members of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly. The results of the elections were announced on 8 October 2024.
However, following the demise of Devinder Singh Rana on October 31st 2024, Nagrota’s seat in the Jammu division became vacant. On the other hand, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah vacated the Budgam seat on October 21.
BJP is likely to field Devinder Singh Rana’s daughter, Devyani Rana, as its candidate for the Nagrota seat. However, there is nothing clear about NC’s candidate for the Budgam seat. The party has not provided any hints about its candidate, evoking interest among political observers and voters alike.
Omar Abdullah won the Budgam seat by defeating Muntazir Mehdi, son of separatist leader Agha Hassan, by a margin of more than 18,000 votes. Devinder Singh Rana won the Nagrota seat by defeating Joginder Singh of the National Conference by 30,472 votes.
According to section 151A of the Representation of Peoples Act-1951, a bye-election for filling any vacancy must be held within six months from the date of the occurrence of the vacancy.
