The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced its first list featuring 44 candidates for the upcoming polls in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
The list was finalised in the Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting of the BJP, held in Delhi on Sunday, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, party President and Union Minister JP Nadda, and Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh.
The BJP has fielded Arshid Bhat from Rajpora, Javed Ahmad Qadri from Shopian, Mohd. Rafiq Wani from Anantnag West. Moreover, Adv. Syed Wazahat is set to contest from Anantnag, Sushri Shagun Parihar from Kishtwar, and Gajay Singh Rana from Doda.
Kuldeep Raj Dubey has been fielded to contest from Reasi, Rohit Dubey from Shri Mata Vaishno Devi, and Chowdhary Abdul Ghani from Poonch Haveli, as per the official candidate list.
In addition, the party is banking on Pawan Gupta from Udhampur West, Dr. Devinder Kumar Maniyal from Ramgarh (SC), and Mohan Lal Bhagat from Akhnoor.
According to the Election Commission of India (ECI), polling in Jammu and Kashmir will be held in three phases, i.e., September 18, 25, and October 1, and the counting of votes will take place on October 4.
This is the first election being held in the union territory after the abrogation of article 370 in 2019.
In the 2014 Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won 28 seats, the BJP secured 25 seats, the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference won 15 seats, and the Congress gained 12 seats.
