The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced a revised list of 15 candidates for the first phase of the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections. The initial list, released on Monday, included 44 candidates spread across three phases of polling. However, the BJP quickly withdrew this list and issued a new one, focusing solely on the first phase, scheduled for September 18.
The revised list maintains the names of candidates for several key constituencies in the Kashmir Valley, such as Pampore, Shopian, Anantnag West, and Anantnag. Notably, in the previous assembly elections held in 2014, when Jammu and Kashmir was a state, the BJP secured 25 seats and has since aimed to maintain its stronghold, particularly in the Jammu region. This area has been a BJP bastion since 2014, but the party now faces a renewed challenge from a resurgent Congress, which has formed an alliance with the National Conference.
The Central Election Committee of the BJP met on Sunday to finalize the candidates for the upcoming polls. As per the revised list, here are the candidates for the first phase:
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 The elections in Jammu and Kashmir are set to be conducted in three phases on September 18, September 25, and October 1, with the counting of votes scheduled for October 4.
