Jammu Kashmir Assembly Election: BJP Re-Releases List With 15 Names For First Phase

The BJP re-released the list of 15 candidates for the first phase of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Election 2024.

In the last legislative polls held in the erstwhile state in 2014, BJP had won 25 (Image: ABP Live)

Source : ABP Live

Jammu Kashmir Assembly Election 2024: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released a fresh list with names of 15 candidates for the first phase of the election. The new list came hours after the saffron party deleted its first list of 44 candidates for the three-phase of the Jammu and Kashmir elections. No changes were made in the candidates picked for the first phase. 

BJP has fielded Vir Saraf-- a Kashmiri Pandit -- from Anantnag East-Shangus in Kashmir Valley, a move seen as a significant outreach to the Pandit community. The party has also fielded one woman candidate, Shagun Parihar, from Kishtwar.

BJP List For Phase 1 Of Jammu Kashmir Assembly Election

Name	Constituency
Er. Syed Showkat Gayoor Andrabi	Pampore
Arshid Bhat	Rajpora
Javed Ahmad Qadri	Shopian
Mohd. Rafiq Wani	Anantnag West
Advocate Syed Wazahat	Anantnag
Sofi Yousuf	Srigufwara–Bijbehara
Veer Saraf	Shangus–Anantnag East
Tariq Keen	Inderwal
Shagun Parihar	Kishtwar
Sunil Sharma	Padder–Nagseni
Daleep Singh Parihar	Bhadarwah
Gajay Singh Rana	Doda
Shakti Raj Parihar	Doda West
Rakesh Thakur	Ramban
Salim Bhat	Banihal

After the list was released, party workers created a ruckus in the BJP office in Jammu. As per sources, workers are angry over the candidate list. They claimed 'parachuted leaders' were given tickets without considering the party workers.

The absence of many big names from the BJP’s first list also took many by surprise The heavyweights who didn’t find mention in the now-deleted list included J&K BJP president Ravindra Raina, former Deputy Chief Ministers Kavinder Gupta and Nirmal Singh.

The BJP's Central Election Committee met on Sunday evening to finalise the party's candidates for the polls. Elections to the 90-member Jammu and Kashmir assembly will be held in three phases -- September 18, September 25, and October 1. The results will be declared on October 4. 

ALSO READ: Jammu Kashmir Assembly Election: BJP Releases First Candidate List, Then Withdraws It

This will be the first Assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir after the erstwhile state was bifurcated into two Union Territories in 2019 and lost its special status in 2019. In the last legislative polls held in the erstwhile state in 2014, BJP had won 25 seats and PDP then tied up to form the government.

The party is making all-out efforts to fend off the challenge from a resurgent Congress, which has tied up with the National Conference, especially in the Jammu region, a BJP bastion since 2014.