Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections 2024: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released an updated list of just 15 candidates for the first phase of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, following the withdrawal of its initial list of 44 candidates. The party has fielded Arshid Bhat from Rajpora, Advocate Syed Wazahat from Anantnag, Sofi Yousuf from Srigufwara-Bijbehara, Shagun Parihar from Kishtwar, Salim Bhat from Banihal, and Rakesh Thakur from Ramban.
Sunil Sharma will contest from Padder-Nagseni, Veer Saraf from Shangus-Anantnag East, Tariq Keen from Inderwal, Daleep Singh Parihar from Bhadarwah, Gajay Singh Rana from Doda, Mohd Rafiq Wani from Anantnag West, Javed Ahmad Qadri from Shopian, Syed Showkat Gayoor Andrabi from Pampore and Shakti Raj Parihar from Doda West.
Check new list here
The BJP in a statement said that the list of candidates released earlier today for the second and third phases should be considered invalid.
BJP withdraws first list of 44 candidates
The BJP had earlier withdrawn its first list of 44 candidates for the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections soon after releasing it. Earlier in the day, the BJP had released its first list of 44 candidates for the elections to the 90-member Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, fielding Devender Singh Rana from Nagrota. The list had 15 for the first phase of polls, 10 for the second phase and 19 for the third phase.
Prominent candidates in the earlier list included Arshid Bhat from Rajpora, Javed Ahmad Qadri from Shopian, and Mohd Rafiq Wani from Anantnag West. In the previous list, the party fielded Adv Syed Wazahat from Anantnag, Sushri Shagun Parihar from Kishtwar, and Gajay Singh Rana from Doda.
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, Jammu and Kashmir 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 Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
