Jammu, Aug 01: As the country prepares for the upcoming Vice Presidential election following JagdeepDhankhar’s recent resignation, Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) will, for the first time ever, not participate in the poll. This is because all four RajyaSabha seats allocated to the Union Territory have remained vacant for an extended period.
Former BJP President and National Executive member RavinderRaina told Rising Kashmir, “Yes, this will be the first time that J&K will have no representation or say in the Vice Presidential election.”
The Election Commission of India (ECI) announced that the Vice President election will be held on September 9. The official notification will be issued on August 7, and the last date for filing nomination papers is August 21. The results will be declared on polling day itself.
The Vice President’s post fell vacant following the resignation of incumbent JagdeepDhankhar on July 22.
Only RajyaSabha members are eligible to vote in the Vice President election. However, since all four RajyaSabha seats allocated to J&K remain unfilled, the Union Territory will not have any electoral votes this time.
Adding to the situation, elections for two vacant Legislative Assembly seats—Nagrota in Jammu and Budgam in Kashmir—have not been conducted yet. The Nagrota seat fell vacant after the untimely death of former BJP MLA DevenderRana, while the Budgam seat was vacated by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.
RajyaSabha members can only be elected once the Legislative Assembly is fully constituted. Since these two Assembly seats remain vacant, RajyaSabha elections for J&K have been delayed.
In contrast, members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) are entitled to vote in the Presidential elections, which continues to include J&K’s participation.
