Jammu, Oct 6: Political churning has begun across Jammu and Kashmir among key stakeholders after the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday notified that the bye-elections to Budgam and Nagrota assembly segments would be held on November 11, 2025.
With the announcement of the conduct of elections, the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) has come into force with immediate effect in the districts of Jammu and Budgam, in which these assembly constituencies, going for election, are included.
Bye-elections to these two seats in the 90-member J&K Legislative Assembly are being held almost one year after they fell vacant.
REASONS FOR VACANCY
The Budgam seat fell vacant after the resignation of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah from this assembly segment on October 21, 2024. He contested from two seats – Budgam and Ganderbal. Later, he vacated the Budgam seat and decided to retain the Ganderbal seat, his family’s bastion.
Nagrota seat had fallen vacant due to the sad and sudden demise of BJP legislator and its senior leader Devender Singh Rana on October 31, 2024, days after the result of J&K assembly elections. The election result was announced on October 8, 2024.
POLITICAL CHESS-BOARD: A PREVIEW
From the Budgam seat, in the 2024 assembly elections, the National Conference candidate (now the Chief Minister) Omar Abdullah had defeated the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Aga Syed Muntazir Mehdi. NC-Congress candidate (Omar) had scored 35804 votes while Mehdi had bagged 17445 votes.
From the Nagrota assembly segment, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate (late) Devender Singh Rana had made waves by winning the seat with the highest margin of 30472 votes across J&K, defeating National Conference’s Joginder Singh. He had won this seat earlier in 2014, also resisting the strong Modi wave as a National Conference candidate.
Once considered to be a trusted lieutenant of Omar Abdullah, Rana joined the BJP in October 2021 and managed to retain the Nagrota seat yet again with a record margin.
So far, no political party has announced its candidates for these assembly segments, going to by-polls on November 11. However, for the Nagrota seat, perceived to be the BJP’s stronghold, Devyani Rana, late Devender Rana’s daughter, is being seen as its (BJP’s) potential candidate.
An interesting aspect was that the Congress and the National Conference, despite being in alliance, opted for a ‘friendly contest’ from the Nagrota assembly segment in 2024. Though both parties have yet to chalk out a poll strategy for by-polls yet they (particularly Congress) would like to avoid ‘friendly contest’ this time.
For the Budgam seat, where the National Conference at present seems to be in a dominant position, a couple of names have been in circulation since it was vacated by the Chief Minister.
The political analysts indicate that NC will generally have no threat in Budgam. However, the internal bickering due to strained ties with the party MP Aga Syed Ruhullah may pose a threat to party prospects if things are not sorted out well in time.
The names of CM’s advisor Nasir Aslam Wani and Aga Mehmood have remained in circulation as probable candidates, but the party has not authenticated any name.
SCHEDULE OF BYE-ELECTIONS
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar announced the bye-election schedule for these assembly segments of J&K on Monday (October 6, 2025) evening in the union capital while notifying poll schedules for Bihar assembly polls and by-polls for six assembly segments in other states.
Counting of votes will take place on November 14, 2025.
As per the ECI schedule for these bye-elections, a gazette notification, commencing the nomination process, will be issued on October 13, 2025. The last date for making nominations will be October 20, while the scrutiny of nominations will be held on October 22, 2025.
The last date for the withdrawal of candidatures will be October 24, 2025, and the whole election process will be completed before November 16, 2025.
SPECIAL SUMMARY REVISION, UPDATION OF ELECTORAL ROLLS
For both two assembly constituencies of J&K, the Special Summary Revision (SSR) was completed with the qualifying date as April 1, 2025. The final publication of the electoral roll for 27-Budgam and 77-Nagrota was done on May 5, 2025.
However, the process of continuous updation of electoral rolls will continue till the last date of filing nominations, with respect to the proximate qualifying date, with respect to applications received till 10 days before the last date of filing nomination. According to CEC, the Commission has decided to use EVMs and VVPATs in the bye-election in all the polling stations.
The Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC) will be the main document of identification of a voter. However, 12 other identification documents can also be shown at the polling station. They include Aadhar card; MGNREGA job card; passbooks with photograph issued by bank or post office; Health Insurance Smart Card issued under the scheme of Ministry of Labour or Ayushman Bharat Health Card; driving license; PAN card; Smart Card issued by RGI under NPR; Indian passport; pension document with photograph; Service identity cards with photograph issued to employees by central, state government, PSUs, Public Limited Companies; official identity cards issued to MPs, MLAs and MLCs and Unique Disability ID (UDID) card of Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India.
CENTRAL OBSERVERS ALREADY DEPLOYED
Earlier on September 28, the ECI had deployed central observers – General, Police, and Expenditure observers.
Central observers were 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 main objective of the observers is to identify areas for improvements and to formulate concrete and operative recommendations.
They work under the superintendence, control, and discipline of the Commission for the period from their appointment until the process of election is completed.
