The BJP today released a list of 44 candidates for the upcoming three-phase election to 90 Assembly seats in Jammu and Kashmir but swiftly retracted it. Later, the party issued a revised list, featuring only 15 candidates for the first phase of the election, with no changes to the previously named candidates for this phase.
Notably absent from the retracted list were Jammu and Kashmir BJP president Ravinder Raina, and former Deputy Chief Ministers Nirmal Singh and Kavinder Gupta. The list, however, did include Devendra Rana, the brother of Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh, who recently defected from the National Conference to the BJP. The first list also featured two Kashmiri Pandits and 14 Muslim candidates, as well as several former leaders from Congress, National Conference, PDP, and Panthers Party who had joined the BJP.
It is believed that internal dissent over some key omissions triggered the withdrawal of the initial list, prompting the party to release a revised list focusing solely on the first phase.
Jammu and Kashmir are set to vote in three phases on September 19, 25, and October 1, with the results being counted on October 4. This election marks the first Assembly polls in the region since its special status was revoked in 2019, leading to its bifurcation into two Union Territories.
In the last Assembly election in 2014, the BJP made significant gains by winning 25 seats, while the PDP emerged as the largest party with 28 seats. The National Conference and Congress secured 15 and 12 seats, respectively, leading to a surprise alliance between the BJP and PDP to form the government, first led by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and later by Mehbooba Mufti after his death in 2016.
This time, the election is expected to be a tripartite contest between the BJP, PDP, and the National Conference-Congress alliance. However, the Congress and National Conference have yet to finalize seat-sharing arrangements, with senior Congress leaders KC Venugopal and Salman Khurshid dispatched to Srinagar to resolve the remaining issues.
Despite the formation of the Congress-National Conference alliance, BJP general secretary Tarun Chugh, who is overseeing the party’s campaign in Jammu and Kashmir, dismissed the tie-up, predicting that it would collapse and suffer a significant defeat.
