EC announces by-elections to Nagrota, Budgam Assembly seats on Nov 11, counting on Nov 14

MCC comes into force in Jammu, Budgam districts
*Electoral rolls to be updated till last date of nominations

Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Oct 6: The Election Commission of India (ECI) today announced by-elections to two Assembly constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir including Nagrota and Budgam on November 11 and counting on November 14. With this, the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) has come into force in the districts in which whole or any part of the Assembly seats going to polls is included.

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By-elections to two seats of Jammu and Kashmir besides one seat each of Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Telangana, Punjab, Mizoram and Odisha were announced by Chief Election Commissioner Gynaesh Kumar at a press conference in New Delhi along with polls to Bihar Assembly.
Notification for by-polls to Nagrota and Budgam seats will be issued on October 13 while the candidates can file their nomination papers till October 20. Scrutiny will be held on October 22 and the candidates can withdraw their nomination papers till October 24.
Voting will be held on November 11 and counting on November 14. Entire election process will be completed on November 16.
Budgam seat was vacated by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah while retaining Ganderbal after his victory in last year’s Assembly elections from both constituencies while Nagrota seat fell vacant following demise of BJP stalwart Devender Singh Rana within days of his re-election.
By-elections to both the seats are being held after over a year.
“The Model Code of Conduct shall come into force with immediate effect in the districts in which the whole or any part of the Assembly constituency going to polls is included,” the Election Commission said.
It said the Special Summary Revision for Nagrota and Budgam Assembly constituencies 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.
It said 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.
“Candidates with criminal antecedents are required to publish information in this regard in newspapers and through television channels on three occasions during the campaign period. A political party that fields candidates with criminal antecedents is also required to publish information about criminal background of its candidates both on its website and also in newspapers and television channels on three occasions,” the Commission said.
Jammu and Kashmir has 90-member Assembly but its strength had come down to 88 because of two vacancies. 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.
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.
In 2024, Rana emerged victorious in triangular fight defeating NC and Congress candidates by a huge margin of over 30,000 votes.
This time Nagrota is likely to witness a direct contest between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and National Conference-led alliance (NC) unless both NC and Congress decide to field their candidates. In 2024 elections, there was an alliance between NC and Congress. However, the pact was not applicable on some seats including Nagrota.
Budgam, on the other hand, is expected to see a triangular battle involving NC, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and the People’s Alliance for Change-a coalition comprising the People’s Conference, People’s Democratic Front, and Justice and Development Front (JDF) among others.
This month, Omar Abdullah Government will complete one year in the office.

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