The BJP on Monday (August 26) released its first list of 44 candidates for the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections. The party, however, quickly withdrew this list and put out a revised one with a total of 15 candidates for the first phase.
The initial list had the names of 15 candidates for the first phase, 10 for the second and 19 for the third round of polling. But, names of candidates for the second and third phases were removed in the revised list, and only candidates for the first phase were retained.
The party included Kashmir constituencies like Pampore, Shopian, Anantnag West and Anantnag in the first list. In the last assembly elections held in 2014, when Jammu and Kashmir was a full-fledged state, the BJP had won 25 seats. The party is making an all-out effort to fend off a challenge from a resurgent Congress — in alliance with the National Conference — especially in the Jammu region, which has been a BJP bastion since 2014.
The BJP’s Central Election Committee met on Sunday evening (August 25) to finalise the party’s candidates for the polls. The union territory is going to polls in three phases on September 18, September 25 and October 1. The counting of votes is scheduled for October 4.
Here are the candidates’ names in the revised list:
Phase 1
Pampore: Syed Showkat Gayoor Andrabi
Rajpora: Arshid Bhat
Shopian: Javed Ahmad Qadri
Anantnag West: Mohd Rafiq Wani
Anantnag: Syed Wazahat
Srigufwara-Bijbehara: Sofi Yousuf
Shangus-Anantnag East: Veer Saraf
Inderwal: Tariq Keen
Kishtwar: Sushri 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
