Jammu and Kashmir: Did BJP withdraw its 1st list of candidates for assembly polls?

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday (Aug 26) released a list of 44 candidates for the three-phaseelection to the 90 assembly seats in Jammu and Kashmir but withdrew it hours later.

According to reports, the now-deleted list was missing the names of key BJP leaders in the union territory, likeJ&K BJP president Ravinder Raina and former deputy chief ministers Nirmal Singh and Kavinder Gupta.

While some claim that the BJP only meant to release the names of the candidates under the first phase, other reports have claimed that the exclusion of party heavyweights attracted instant backlash - forcing the high command to withdraw the complete list.

The preliminary list had 36 candidates from the Jammu region, eight from Kashmir Valley, including two Kashmiri Pandits (Veer Saraf fromShangus, Anantnag East and Ashok Bhat fromHabbakadal).

Watch |J&K Elections: Political moves intensify ahead of September 18 polls

The now-deleted list of candidates:

First phase

• Pampore:Er. Syed Showkat Gayoor Andrabi
• Anantnag West:Mohd. Rafiq Wani
• Rajpora:Arshid Bhat
• Shopian:Javed Ahmad Qadri
• Anantnag:AdvSyed Wazahat
• Srigufwara–Bijbehara:Sofi Yousuf
• Shangus–Anantnag East:Veer Saraf
• Inderwal:Tariq Keen
• Kishtwar:Shagun Parihar
• Padder–Nagseni:Sunil Sharma
• Bhadarwah:Daleep Singh Parihar
• Doda:Gajay Singh Rana
• Doda West:Shakti Raj Parihar
• Ramban:Rakesh Thakur
• Banihal:Salim Bhat

Second phase

• Habbakadal: Ashok Bhat
• Gulabgarh (ST): Mohammad Akram Chaudhary
• Reasi:Kuldeep Raj Dubey
• Shri Mata Vaishno Devi:Rohit Dubey
• Kalakote–Sunderbani: Thakur Randhir Singh
• Budhal (ST):Chowdhary Zulfikar Ali
• Thannamandi (ST):Mohd. Iqbal Malik
• Surankote (ST):Syed Mushtaq Ahmad
• Bukhari Poonch Haveli:ChowdharyAbdul Ghani
• Mendhar (ST): Murtaza Khan

Third Phase

• Udhampur West:Pawan Gupta
• Chenani:Balwant Singh Mankotia
• Ramnagar (SC): Sunil Bhardwaj
• Bani: Jeevan Lal
• Billawar:Satish Sharma
• Basohli:Darshan Singh
• Jasrota:Rajiv Jasrotia
• Hiranagar: Adv Vijay Kumar Sharma
• Ramgarh (SC:Dr Devinder Kumar Maniyal
• Samba: Surjit Singh Slathia
• Vijaypur: Chandra Prakash Ganga
• Suchetgarh (SC):Gharu Ram Bhagat
• R.S. Pura–Jammu South: Dr Narinder Singh Raina
• Jammu East: Yudhvir Sethi
• Nagrota: DrDevender Singh Rana
• Jammu West: Arvind Gupta
• Jammu North: Sham Lal Sharma
• Akhnoor (SC): Mohan Lal Bhagat
• Chhamb:Rajeev Sharma

Elections in Jammu and Kashmir

Earlier this month, the Election Commission of India (ECI), announced dates for the assembly polls in the UT, set to be held for the first time since Article 370 was abrogated in the year 2019.

The election will be held in three phases and the counting will take place on October 4.

“We have seen long queues of people in Jammu and Kashmir during Lok Sabha polls, which showed they want to be part of the democratic process and preferred ballot over the bullet,” saidChief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar during the announcement.

The UT has 8.7 million eligible voters with an equal percentage of males and females. Over 300,000 will be first-time voters, casting their ballots in over 11,800 polling stations, spread across the region.

On X, the BJP party has now released a name of selected candidates.

भारतीय जनता पार्टी की केन्द्रीय चुनाव समिति ने आगामी जम्मू व कश्मीर विधानसभा चुनाव 2024 के लिए एक नाम पर अपनी स्वीकृति प्रदान की है। pic.twitter.com/RJGwS5nkOx — BJP (@BJP4India) August 26, 2024

(With inputs from agencies)