By-elections for 12 seats of J&K Council on March 7

Jammu Feb 13 (PTI): The biennial elections for the twelve seats of Legislative Council of Jammu and Kashmir will be held on March 7, the Election Commission announced on Friday.

The notification for the elections will be issued on February 16, 2009, an official spokesman said here.
Last date for the nominations is February 24. The scrutiny of the nominations will be conducted on February 25 and last date for withdrawal of candidature is February 27, he said.

Polling for all the 12 seats shall be held on March 7 and counting of votes will also be done the same day at 3 p.m.,he said, adding the entire process will be completed by March 9.

Eight seats of the Legislative Council will fall vacant after the retirement of Nassurallah of Kargil and Phuntsog Namgyal of Ladakh on March 9, 2009, Ali Mohammad Sofi of Kashmir province and Ved Prakash Gupta of Jammu province on March 16 and Amrit Malhotra, Choudhary Bashir Ahmed Naz and Lal Mohammad Sabir -- all belonging to Jammu province -- on March 9, the spokesman said.

One seat belonging to Kashmir province is lying vacant since June 5, 2008 due to disqualification of Bilal Ahmad Khan Lodhi by the PDP, the spokesman said.

The commission has also decided to hold by-elections to fill the casual vacancies in the Council after resignation of Basharat Ahmad Bukhari, Nizam-ud-Din Bhat and Sakina from Kashmir.