STATE TIMES NEWS
NEW DELHI: Elections to four Rajya Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir, the terms of which are set to expire next month, will be held on 7th February, the Election Commission (EC) announced on Monday.
The four members whose terms are expiring are Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Saif-ud-Din Soz on 10th February and National Conference (NC) leaders Ghulam Nabi Wani and Mohammad Shafi on 15th February.
According to a notification issued by the EC, the polls in this regard will be held on 7th February and the counting of votes will be held on the same day.
A member of the Rajya Sabha has a six-year tenure while a Lok Sabha member has a five-year term.
The Jammu and Kashmir State is currently under the Governor’s rule. The term of the existing Assembly expires on 19th January, 2015 unless dissolved earlier. From the 20th January, 2015 the newly constituted State Assembly will be in subsistence. The new Assembly members may not be in a position to take oath as members immediately i.e. till the Governor’s rule is revoked. However, the Supreme Court has held that the MLAs, once elected, can vote for electing members of the Council of States even though they have not formally taken oath as such members to sit in the Assembly.
In respect of members of the Council of States to be elected by the elected members of Jammu abd Kashmir Legislative Assembly, all the four seats are to be filled up on account of biennial retirement of members. On the last occasion, these four vacancies were filled up by holding three separate elections, in accordance with the law on the subject, i.e. one biennial election for the seat of Prof. Saif-Ud-Din Soz, second biennial election for the seat of Ghulam Nabi Azad and third biennial election for the seats of Ghulam Nabi Wani and Mohammad Safi. Consequently, the four members to be elected now shall hold office for the full tenure of six years. This time also three separate biennial elections will be held to fill up these four seats as was done on the last occasion.
The commission has decided to hold biennial elections to the Council of States from the State of Jammu and Kashmir to fill up the above said vacancies.
The issue of notification will be 21st January, 2015; last date of making nominations is 28th January, 2015; scrutiny of nominations is 29th January, 2015; last date for withdrawal of candidatures is 31st January, 2015; date of poll; 7th February, 2015; hours of poll 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM; counting of votes is 7th February, 2015 at 5:00 PM.
