The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Sunday deployed central observers, General Police, and Expenditure officials for the two vacant assembly seats of the Budgam and Nagrota constituencies in J&K.
These central observers have been deployed by the ECI, under the plenary powers conferred on it by Article 324 of the Constitution and the powers conferred on it by Section 20B of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, to watch the conduct of elections in a constituency.
The announcement has ended the speculation about the time and schedule of the long-pending by-election for the two vacant seats in the 90-member J&K legislative assembly.
The observers’ main purpose is to identify areas for improvement and to formulate concrete and operative recommendations.
The Budgam seat had fallen vacant after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah vacated it on October 21, 2024, days after the results of the J&K assembly elections were announced on October 8, 2024.
Meanwhile, the Nagrota seat also fell vacant following the demise of BJP leader Devender Singh Rana on October 31, 2024.
While no party has officially finalised the names of any candidate, speculations are that Devyani Rana, late Devender Rana’s daughter, is being seen as the BJP’s potential candidate.
For the Budgam seat, where the National Conference swept the election, the party has had a strong presence since the early 1960s in the segment, though it has not yet finalised its candidate for the seat.
Earlier, on September 24, after a prolonged wait, the Election Commission of India (ECI) had also announced the conduct of biennial elections to four vacant seats in the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) from Jammu and Kashmir, on October 24.
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