ECI to Declare J&K Bypolls together with Bihar Elections 

Jammu 28 September :- The Election Commission of India (ECI) will shortly announce the dates for the by-elections in Jammu & Kashmir’s Budgam and Nagrota assembly constituencies together with the dates for the Bihar legislative assembly elections. This is likely to be declared in the second week of October after the entire commission visited Bihar.

In a major deployment indicating the upcoming polls, the ECI has sent a team of 470 central observers to both the Bihar polls and different bye-elections to be held across the nation. These include officers for the vacant seats in the Budgam and Nagrota segments. The observers from the IAS, IPS, and other central services would cover general administration, security, and expenditure checking.

The political scenario in the two J&K constituencies seems well-defined. For Nagrota, the battle is likely to be a direct confrontation between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a combined opposition spearheaded by the National Conference (NC). In contrast, the Budgam seat is likely to see a triangular battle, involving mainly the NC, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and the Peoples Alliance for Change—a regional party coalition.