Jammu, Sept 24: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday announced the schedule for the biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha from the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir, marking the first polls to fill long-vacant seats since the formation of the new Legislative Assembly.
According to a notification issued by the poll body, the official notification for the elections will be released on October 6, 2025. The last date for filing nominations is October 13, with scrutiny scheduled for October 14. Voting will take place on October 24 from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM, and counting of votes will be conducted the same day at 5:00 PM.
The four Rajya Sabha seats, previously held by Mir Mohammad Fayaz, Shamsher Singh, Ghulam Nabi Azad, and Nazir Ahmed Laway, have remained vacant since their retirement in February 2021. The delay in holding elections was attributed to the absence of a valid electoral college following the bifurcation of the erstwhile state into Jammu & Kashmir (with legislature) and Ladakh (without legislature) under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.
With the recent constitution of the Jammu & Kashmir Legislative Assembly, the electoral body required for conducting the Rajya Sabha polls is now in place, clearing the way for elections to fill the long-pending vacancies. The Commission clarified that the four seats will be filled through three separate elections—one each for the members who retired on February 10, 2021, and a combined election for the two who retired on February 15, 2021.
The ECI’s decision follows the precedent set by a 1994 Delhi High Court ruling, which upheld the practice of holding separate elections for seats categorized distinctly from inception.
The tenure of the newly elected members will, however, remain subject to the outcome of a pending Supreme Court case—SLP(C) No. 17123/2015 (Election Commission of India vs. Devesh Chandra Thakur & Others), which is yet to be decided.
The announcement is a significant development for Jammu & Kashmir’s political landscape, as it restores representation for the Union Territory in the Council of States, nearly four years after the previous members retired. Political parties in the region are expected to gear up for the elections, with candidates filing nominations in the coming weeks.
