Is Manish Sisodia to now officially represent Punjab in Upper House? All eyes on Punjab’s 7th RS Member
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in News/ September 25,2025
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced the election schedule of bypoll of vacant Rajya Sabha seat in Punjab along with the four vacant Rajya Sabha seats in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) will be held on October 24, 2025.
One seat from Punjab had fallen vacant on July 1 after sitting MP from AAP Sanjeev Arora resigned following his election to the Punjab Assembly from Ludhiana West seat. A first-time MP, Arora was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Punjab on April 10, 2022, and his term was to otherwise end on April 9, 2028.
Speculations are rife in political, administrative circles in Punjab that AAP’s Punjab incharge Manish Sisodia will be the party candidate for lone upper house seat from Punjab. Since AAP has ample majority in Punjab assembly it is clear that the ruling party will send its candidate in the upper house on October 16,2025.
“Till now Sisodia is unofficially holding the reins of Punjab government but after his election as Rajya Sabha member, he will officially lead the government both in Rajya Sabha and state government. After becoming RS member, he will officially enjoy the state government facilities both in Punjab and Delhi.” said a senior officer on the condition of anonymity.
“Since Arvind Kejriwal is a convenor of a national party , former CM of Delhi, he has all the government facilities. Some of his closed lieutenants are already adjusted as RS members from Punjab, Delhi. Only Manish Sisodia is left with no official position in any government. This is the last chance for him to get officially adjusted in the government” said another senior government officer.
On the other hand, the four Upper House seats from J&K have been lying vacant since February 2021. In J&K, Mir Mohammad Fayaz and Shamsher Singh had retired on February 10, 2021, while Ghulam Nabi Azad and Nazir Ahmed Laway on February 15, 2021.
Notifications for all the seats of Punjab and J&K will be issued on October 6, while the last date for filing nominations is October 13. Scrutiny of nominations will be done on October 14, while the last date for withdrawal of candidature is October 16.The polls will be held between 9 am and 4 pm on October 24, if required while counting of votes will take place on the same day at 5 pm.
