Mubashir Alam
Srinagar, Nov 28: The by-election for two vacant seats of Jammu & Kashmir Legislative Assembly would be held before April 20, 2025 as per the law governing the electoral exercise.
Officials said that Election Commission of India has to hold election for Budgam and Nagrota seats before April 20 as per legal provisions mandating ECI to fill vacant seats.
While Omar Abdullah, who won both Budgam and Ganderbal seats, decided to vacate the former on October 21, Nagrota seat became vacant on October 31 due to the demise of Devinder Singh Rana.
According to section 151A of Representation of Peoples Act-1951, a bye-election for filling any vacancy shall be held within a period of six months from the date of the occurrence of the vacancy.
“The election for these two seats has to be held before April 20, 2025,” the officials said, adding that, however, it can be held beyond six-month deadline only if the Election Commission in consultation with the Central Government certifies that it is difficult to hold the bye-election within the said period.
In 2024 state polls, Omar Abdullah won Budgam seat by defeating Muntazir Mehdi, son of separatist leader Agha Hassan, by a margin of more than 18000 votes. Rana won Nagrota seat by defeating Joginder Singh of National Conference by 30,472 votes.
