Assembly Polls: BJP fields 45 candidates in 90 constituencies of J&K

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Aug 27 released the third list of 29 candidates to contest the second and third phases of polling in Jammu and Kashmir scheduled to be held on September 25, and October 1.

The party issued a revised first list of 16 candidates on Aug 26 for the first phase of polling to be held on September 18 after withdrawing its first list which triggered protests by supporters and caused furor among senior leaders, whose names were missing in the list.

But the party so far still has not named its nominee for Nowshera, which was represented in 2014 by its incumbent state president Ravinder Raina, and Gandhinagar, from where senior leader and former deputy chief minister Kavinder Gupta was elected in the last polls.

The revised list for the first phase includes three former legislators and Shagun Parihar (30), the only woman candidate, who had lost her father and uncle in a terror attack five years ago.

Of the 90 assembly constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir, BJP has so far announced its nominees for 45 seats.

According to the new list, Devender Singh Rana will contest from Nagrota and Satish Sharma from the Billawar constituency, which was represented by Nirmal Singh, former deputy chief minister in the last assembly polls held in 2014.

In wake of the protests and uproar against the first list (now withdrawn), the BJP in its new list made one change. As per the new list, Baldev Raj Sharma will contest from Shri Mata Vaishno Devi's seat in place of Rohit Dubey.

Meanwhile, Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Aug 27 said the pre-poll alliance between the Congress and National Conference for the upcoming assembly elections will have no bearing on his party.

Singh expressed optimism that the BJP will form the next government in Jammu and Kashmir. The union minister accompanied former minister Shakti Raj Parihar and Gajay Singh Rana who filed their nomination papers from the Doda-West and Doda assembly constituencies, respectively.

The BJP has said it will not ally with any political party and will support strong independent candidates on those assembly seats in Kashmir valley where the party will not contest the elections.

A revised first list was issued to calm down the aggrieved party supporters and senior leaders, particularly in the Jammu region, said a senior BJP leader.

“There were apprehensions that it may hurt the poll results, which is why the party canceled the first list and made a few changes,” he told the Education Post wishing anonymity.

“The supporters had questioned the selection of political turncoats over senior leaders who had stood firm even when the party faced the most difficult times. You can not ignore the senior leaders who have a vast fan following and sacrificed almost everything for the progress and development of BJP in Jammu and Kashmir,” he added, while referring to the withdrawn list.

There are nine Muslim candidates including a woman nominated for the first phase of polling.

The elections will be held in three phases on 18, 25 September, and 1 October, and the counting of votes will take place on 4 October.