Srinagar: The BJP initially released a list of 44 candidates for the three-phase election to fill 90 Assembly seats in Jammu and Kashmir, but quickly withdrew it. Later, a revised list was issued containing only 15 candidates selected for the first phase, with no changes made to these selections.
Notably absent from the retracted list were three prominent names: Jammu and Kashmir BJP president Ravinder Raina, and former Deputy Chief Ministers Nirmal Singh and Kavinder Gupta. The list did include Devendra Rana, the brother of Union minister Dr. Jitendra Singh, who recently switched from the National Conference.
The first list also named two Kashmiri Pandits and 14 Muslim candidates. Additionally, several former leaders from the Congress, National Conference, PDP, and Panthers Party, who had defected to the BJP, were featured in the now-deleted list. The exclusion of certain key figures reportedly sparked discontent within the party, prompting the withdrawal of the original three-phase list and the reissuance of a list limited to first-phase candidates.
Jammu and Kashmir will hold elections in three phases on September 19, 25, and October 1, with the votes being counted on October 4. This marks the first Assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir since the former state lost its special status in 2019 and was divided into two Union Territories.
The initial list of candidates was released this morning following the BJP’s Central Election Committee’s finalization of the party’s selections for the upcoming election. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and BJP President JP Nadda were present at a crucial meeting in Delhi yesterday to decide on these picks.
The last Assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir took place in 2014. In that election, the BJP performed impressively, securing 25 seats, while the PDP emerged as the largest party with 28 seats. The National Conference won 15 seats, and the Congress obtained 12 seats. After the election, the BJP and PDP formed an unexpected coalition government, initially led by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and later by Mehbooba Mufti following Sayeed’s death in 2016.
This time, Jammu and Kashmir is set for a three-way contest among the BJP, the PDP, and the National Conference-Congress alliance. However, the Congress and National Conference are still negotiating their seat-sharing arrangement. Top Congress leaders KC Venugopal and Salman Khurshid have been sent to Srinagar to help resolve the ongoing differences between the National Conference and the local Congress leadership.
Earlier, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi met with National Conference President Farooq Abdullah and Vice President Omar Abdullah to announce their alliance.
Reacting to this alliance, BJP General Secretary Tarun Chugh, who is overseeing the party’s campaign in Jammu and Kashmir, dismissed the coalition, stating that the Congress-National Conference alliance will collapse like a house of cards and suffer a crushing defeat.
