The Bharatiya Janata Party Monday released its first list of 44 candidates for the forthcoming Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir, including eight from the Kashmir and 36 from the Jammu division.
The list contains 44 candidates fighting in three phases. Of these, 15 are from the first phase, 10 from the second, and 19 from the last phase. Further names will be announced later.
In Kashmir, the BJP has nominated a local from the state, Ashok Bhat, another Kashmiri Pandit, from the migrant-voter-dominated Habba Kadal constituency in Srinagar district. The significance is that the migrant Kashmiri Pandits are likely to be decisive for the nomination in that constituency.
Other nominees from the Valley are Syed Showkat Gayoor Abdrabi for Pampore, Arshid Bhat for Rajpora, Javed Ahmad Qadri for Shopian, Mohd Rafiq Wani for Anantnag West, Advocate Syed Wazahat for Anantnag, Sofi Yousuf for Srigufwara-Bijbehara, and Veer Saraf for Shangus-Anantnag East.
In the Jammu division, the BJP has Devender Singh Rana for the Nagrota Assembly seat and Surjit Singh Salathia for the Samba Assembly seat. Rana had won the Nagrota constituency two times in the past, while Salathia is experienced in winning elections from Samba.
The other aspirants from Jammu include Pawan Gupta from Udhampur West, Balwant Singh Mankotia from Chennai, Sunil Bhardhwaj from the SC reserved seat of Ramnagar, Jeevan Lal from Bani, Satish Sharma from Billawar, Darshan Singh from Basohli, Rajiv Jasrotia from Jasrota, and Vijay Kumar Sharma from Hiranagar.
Devinder Kumar Maniyal is contesting from Ramgarh (SC), former Minister and MLA Chander Prakash Ganga from Vijaypur, Gharu Ram Bhagat from Suchetgarh SC, Narinder Singh Raina from R.S.Pura-Jammu South, Yudhvir Sethi from Jammu East, Arvind Singh from Jammu West, Sham Lal Sharma from Jammu North, Mohan Lal Bhagat from Akhnoor SC, and Rajeev Sharma from the Chamba Assembly constituency.
The other contestants are Mohammad Akram Choudhary for Gulabgarh ST, Kuldeep Raj Dubey for Reasi, and Rohit Dubey for the Mata Vaishno Devi seat.
The BJP has fielded Chowdhary Zulfikar Ali, who joined the party recently, from Budhal ST and Mohammad Iqbal Malik from Thanamandi ST. Thakur Randhir Singh is contesting from Kalakote-Sunderbani, Syed Mushtaq Ahmad Bukhari from Surankote, Chowdhary Abdul Gani from Poonch Haveli, and Murtaza Khan from Mendhar ST.
The BJP has fielded candidates in Banihal, Ramban, Inderwal, Doda, Bhaderwah, Kishtwar, Paddar-Nagseni, and Doda West areas of Chenab Valley. In the 2014 Assembly elections, the BJP won all 18 seats from Jammu division.
The Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party certainly made some dent in Jammu division; even so, despite their apparent incursions, the BJP is poised to sweep all the 36 seats in this area.
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