By releasing the sixth list of candidates for the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, the BJP has finalized the names of candidates for all 43 segments of Jammu province, which the party has high stakes.
Finalizing candidates for all 43 Assembly seats of Jammu province is a clear indication that the party has dropped stalwarts including two former Deputy Chief Ministers and five former Cabinet ministers of the previous PDP-BJP regime and two Ministers of State (MoSs).
Former Minister of State for Education Priya Sethi has not given a party mandate but her husband Yudhvir Sethi has given a party ticket from the Jammu East, which is a traditional seat of the party from the days of Jan Sangh and Praja Parishad.
The BJP on Sunday released its sixth list of candidates for the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections.
The party has dropped senior leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Kavinder Gupta from his Bahu Assembly segment in the latest list of 10 candidates.
Former Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) Vikram Randhawa has been fielded to replace Gupta in the erstwhile Gandhi Nagar seat, which is now known as Bahu after delimitation.
The BJP has named Bharat Bhushan from the newly carved Kathua assembly segment and announced Ghulam Muhamed Mir as the candidate from Handwara.
Naseer Ahmad Lone will contest from Bandipora, while RS Pathania has been named for Udhampur East.
Mohammed Idrees Karnahi, Abdul Rashid Khan, and Faqir Mohammad Khan will contest from Karnah, Sonawari, and Gurez, respectively.
The BJP also named Rajeev Bhagat from the Bishnah constituency and Surinder Bhagat from Marh assembly segments of the Jammu district.
Top leaders dropped by BJP.
- Dr Nirmal Singh, ex-Deputy Chief Minister and former Speaker.
- Kavinder Gupta, ex-Speaker and former Deputy Chief Minister.
- Bali Bhagat, former Cabinet Minister
- Choudhary Sukhnandan, ex-Cabinet Minister
- Sat Sharma, ex-Cabinet Minister
- Choudhary Sham Lal, ex-Cabinet Minister
- Abdul Gani Kohli, former Cabinet Minister
- Ajay Nanda, former Minister of State (MoS)
- Priya Sethi, former Minister of State (MoS)
BJP releases names of 62 candidates for J&K elections
Out of the total 90 assembly segments of Jammu and Kashmir, BJP has so far released the names of 62 candidates across the Union Territory.
While the names of the candidates have been finalized for all 43 seats of Kashmir Valley, the party has released the names of only 19 candidates for Kashmir Valley, which has 47 seats.
On August 26, BJP had released a list of 44 candidates but within minutes the party withdrew those names and issued two fresh lists of only 11 candidates. In its third list, the BJP released the names of 29 candidates for all important seats of Jammu district.
