EC issues by-polls notification
*Polling Stns increase to 173 & 150
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Oct 13: As many as 1.26 lakh electorates are eligible for exercising their right to franchise in Budgam Assembly seat and 97,893 in Nagrota constituency, the by-elections for which are scheduled to be held on November 11 and a notification was issued today by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Follow the Daily Excelsior channel on WhatsApp
Nagrota seat in Jammu division fell vacant due to sudden demise of BJP stalwart Devender Singh Rana within days of his re-election from the constituency in October last year while Budgam seat was vacated by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah while retaining Ganderbal after winning both the seats.
The candidates for both the seats can file their nomination papers till October 20. Scrutiny of documents will be held on October 22 while October 24 is last date for withdrawal of candidatures.
Polling will be held on November 11 from 7 AM to 6 PM. Votes will be counted on November 14 and entire election process will be completed before November 16, two separate notifications issued by the Election Commission for Budgam and Nagrota Assembly constituencies stated.
As many as 97893 voters are eligible to exercise their right to franchise in Nagrota Assembly seat while number of electorates in Budgam Assembly segment stand at 1,26,026.
While Nagrota constituency has 150 polling stations-up from 145 last time; 173 polling stations have been set up for Budgam seat, an increase of 17 from the last election.
Both these Assembly seats fell vacant in the month of October i.e. within days of formation of Omar Abdullah Government in the middle of that month in 2024. By-polls to the two seats are, however, being held after a year.
During the year, strength of the UT’s Legislative Assembly remained 88 instead of 90 because of the two vacancies. However, with November 11 by-polls, the Assembly strength will reach 90. There is also a provision for nomination of five MLAs including two women, two Kashmiri migrants (one of them a woman) and one PoJK refugee. These nominations haven’t been made as yet.
The Special Summary Revision for the two constituencies going to by-elections was completed with qualifying date as April 1, 2025 and final electoral rolls were published on May 5, 2025. However, the process of continuous updation of electoral rolls will continue till last date of filing nominations with respect to proximate qualifying date in respect to applications received till 10 days before last date of filing nominations.
The Commission will use EVMs and VVPATs in the by-elections in all polling stations. And for the purpose, adequate numbers of EVMs and VVPATs have been made available and all steps have been taken to ensure that the polls are conducted smoothly with the help of these machines.
Nagrota Assembly seat is stronghold of the BJP with the party winning it three times in last five elections. BJP’s third time MP from Jammu seat Jugal Kishore Sharma won the seat in 2002 and 2008 Assembly polls. In 1996, NC’s Ajatshatru Singh secured victory while in 2014, Devender Rana of the same party wrested seat from the BJP. In 2024, Rana won Nagrota seat as the BJP candidate.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
