BJP Releases 1st Candidate List for J&K Assembly Polls

The BJP has announced its first list of 44 candidates for the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections. Surprisingly, former Deputy Chief Ministers Nirmal Singh and Kavinder Gupta are not on the list. The list includes Devendra Rana, who recently joined from the National Conference, as well as two Kashmiri Pandits and 14 Muslim candidates.

The elections will happen in three phases on September 19, September 25, and October 1. The results will be announced on October 4. This is the first Assembly election since Jammu and Kashmir lost its special status in 2019 and was divided into two Union Territories.

The BJP’s Central Election Committee, including leaders like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and BJP chief JP Nadda, decided on the candidates. In the last election in 2014, the BJP won 25 seats, while the PDP won 28 seats. The National Conference won 15 seats, and Congress won 12 seats. After that, the BJP and PDP formed a coalition government.

This time, the election will be a three-way contest between the BJP, PDP, and the National Conference-Congress alliance. However, Congress and the National Conference are still figuring out seat-sharing. Top Congress leaders have gone to Srinagar to work on this.

BJP general secretary Tarun Chugh criticized the Congress-National Conference alliance, saying it will fail and lead to their defeat.

#JammuAndKashmirElections #BJP #AssemblyPolls #Election2024 #IndianPolitics