Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections 2024: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday (August 26) released its first list of 44 candidates for the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections. The candidates include 15 for the first phase of polls, 10 for the second phase and 19 for the third phase.
The party has fielded Arshid Bhat from Rajpora, Javed Ahmad Qadri from Shopian, Mohd Rafiq Wani from Anantnag West, Sofi Yousuf from Srigufwara-Bijbehara, Rakesh Thakur from Ramban, Salim Bhat from Banihal and Rohit Dubey from Shri Mata Vaishno Devi. Advocate Syed Wazahat will contest from Anantnag, Shagun Parihar from Kishtwar, and Gajay Singh Rana from Doda.
The announcement came following a meeting of the BJP Central Election Committee held on Sunday. The meeting, chaired by JP Nadda, saw the participation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and other committee members. The CEC has approved the candidates' names for the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly Elections 2024.
Here's complete list of candidates
Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections 2024
Notably, the polling to elect 90 members of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly will take place in three phases. The elections will be held on September 18, September 25 and October 1. The results of the polls will be announced on October 4. It will be the first election in the valley since provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution were abrogated and the erstwhile state divided into two Union Territories in 2019.
Significantly, J-K has been without an elected government since June 2018 when the BJP pulled out of the Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP-BJP coalition government. The state came under the Governor’s rule and the then-governor Satya Pal Malik dissolved the Assembly.
On August 5, 2019, Article 370 was abrogated and Jammu and Kashmir was bifurcated into two union territories of J-K and Ladakh.
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