Srinagar: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday announced that it would hold by-elections in Jammu & Kashmir later, and it still has time to conduct the elections.
Addressing a news conference in New Delhi, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, as per news agency KNO, said that they are not announcing the schedule for by-polls in Budgam and Nagrota today due to the snowy conditions in the region.
The CEC mentioned that they have until April 20 to hold the electoral exercise.
Omar Abdullah vacated the Budgam seat on October 21, while the Nagrota seat fell vacant on October 31 following the demise of BJP’s Devinder Singh Rana. According to section 151A of the Representation of Peoples Act-1951, a by-election for filling any vacancy must be held within six months from the date of the occurrence of the vacancy.
While the BJP is likely to field Devinder Singh Rana’s daughter, Devyani Rana, as its candidate for the Nagrota seat, there is widespread curiosity about who will be the NC’s candidate for the Budgam seat. The NC has not provided any hints about its candidate, evoking interest among political observers and voters alike.
In the 2024 J&K polls, 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.
