BJP Announces 29 More Candidates for J&K Polls, Bringing Total to 45 Nominees

GG News Bureau
Jammu, 27th August. The BJP has named 29 additional candidates for the Jammu and Kashmir elections, bringing the total number of announced nominees to 45. This marks the first elections in the region in a decade.

On Monday, the party released a list of 44 candidates, which was quickly withdrawn. A revised list was issued hours later with 15 names for the first phase of the election, followed by a further update with just one candidate’s name.

The latest announcement includes 10 candidates for the second phase of voting and 19 for the third phase. Notably, the BJP has replaced Rohit Dubey with Baldev Raj Sharma for the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi seat.

Prominent names in the new list include Devender Singh Rana for Nagrota and Satish Sharma for Billawar, a seat formerly held by ex-deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh.

The BJP has yet to name candidates for Nowshera, previously represented by current state president Ravinder Raina, and Gandhinagar, which was held by former deputy chief minister Kavinder Gupta.

In contrast, rival parties Congress and National Conference (NC) have reached a seat-sharing agreement. The NC will contest 51 seats, while Congress will field candidates in 32 constituencies.

The elections for the 90-member Jammu and Kashmir assembly will occur in three phases from September 18 to October 1, with results expected on October 4. The last assembly elections were held in 2014, and the region has since been under direct federal administration following the dissolution of the assembly in 2018.