Jammu, July 30 -- President of the Panthers Party (India), Harsh Dev Singh on Tuesday filed a writ petition before the high court of Jammu & Kashmir for issuance of a writ of mandamus directing the Election Commission of India (ECI) to hold assembly elections in Nagrota and Budgam constituencies immediately. The two assembly constituencies were declared vacant on October 1, 2024, in conformity with the law laid down on the subject by the Supreme Court and in consonance with its mandate of Section 151 A of Representation of Peoples' Act. Alleging inordinate and inexplicable delay, Singh, said, "Writ petition in person has stated that by-elections in the said two assembly constituencies have been denied on extraneous considerations and in violation of plethora of rulings of various courts and the provisions of Section 151 A of RPA Act, which mandate holding such elections within a period of six months from the date of occurrence of such vacancies." He pointed out in the petition that existing laws required the said elections to be held before ending March 2025. "The said elections were arbitrarily denied while issuance of election notification on January 7, 2025, and the ECI had given a statement that by-elections on the said two seats can't be held due to massive snowfall deliriously oblivious of the fact that Nagrota constituency has never ever experienced snowfall in its history," stated Singh in his petition. The petitioner further submitted that the ECI did not seem to have any intention of holding the elections in J&K as it was behaving as a mute spectator while having activated its election machinery in Bihar. He stated that the Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud in a significant ruling had observed that: " There must be some duty cost on the Election Commission to proceed with alacrity the moment a vacancy arises". The ECI having failed to initiate the election exercise for the last 10 months and giving lame excuses has brazenly defied not only the SC but also the prevalent law on the subject. Seeking indulgence of the HC, Singh pointed out that elections are never held in J&K until and unless the court intervenes and orders restoration of democracy....