Elections for 4 Rajya Sabha seats on Oct 24; tenure tied to pending Supreme Court case – Alfaaz – The Words

Srinagar: After remaining vacant for more than three years, Jammu & Kashmir’s four Rajya Sabha seats are finally set to see fresh elections. The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday rolled out the schedule, marking October 24 as polling day.

As per the Commission’s notification, nominations open on October 6, with October 13 being the last date to file papers. Scrutiny will follow on October 14. On polling day, legislators will cast their votes between 9:00 AM and 4:00 PM, and the results will be declared the same evening at 5:00 PM.

The four seats were earlier held by Mir Mohammad Fayaz, Shamsher Singh, Ghulam Nabi Azad, and Nazir Ahmed Laway, all of whom retired in February 2021. Their exit left J&K without representation in the Upper House, a void prolonged by the political churn after the region’s reorganisation in 2019, which had dissolved the Assembly and stalled the creation of an electoral college.

Interestingly, the Commission has decided to hold three separate polls to fill the four vacancies, one each for members who retired on February 10, 2021, and a combined election for the two who retired on February 15 that year. The method, the ECI notes, follows a 1994 Delhi High Court precedent.

However, the tenure of the newly elected members won’t be free of legal uncertainty. Their term will hinge on the Supreme Court’s verdict in a long-pending case (SLP(C) No. 17123/2015), which could influence how such elections are treated in law.