Jammu and Kashmir assembly election: BJP releases third list of 29 candidates
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday released its third list of 29 candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir.
The list includes 10 candidates for the second phase of polls and 19 for the third phase. The elections to the legislative assembly of Jammu and Kashmir will be held in three phases on September 18, 25 and October 1. The counting of votes will take place on October 4.
The party has fielded Ashok Bhat to contest from Habbakadal, Mohammad Akram Choudhary from Gulabgarh, Kuldeep Raj Dubey from Reasi, Baldev Raj Sharma from Shri Mata Vaishno Devi, Thakur Randhir Singh from Kalakote-Sunderbani.
The party has named Choudhary Zulfikar Ali to contest from Budhal, Mohammad Iqbal Malik from Thannamandi, Syed Mushtaq Ahmed Bukhari from Surankote, Choudhary Abdul Ghani from Poonch Haveli, Murtaza Khan from Mendhar, Pawan Gupta from Udhampur West, Balwant Singh Mankotia from Chenani.
In the list, Sunil Bhardwaj has been nominated to contest from Ramnagar, Jeevan Lal from Bani, Satish Sharma from Billawar, Darshan Singh from Basholi, Rajiv Jasrotia from Jasrota, Vijay Kumar Sharma from Hiranagar, Devinder Kumar Maniyal from Ramgarh, Surjit Singh Salathia from Samba, Chandra Prakash Ganga from Vijaypur, Gharu Ram Bhagat from Suchetgarh, Narinder Singh Raina from RS Pura-Jammu South, Yudhvir Sethi from Jammu East, Devinder Singh Rana from Nagrota, Arvind Gupta from Jammu West, Sham Lal Sharma from Jammu North, Mohan Lal Bhagat from Akhnoor and Rajeev Sharma from Chhamb.
The party has dropped senior leaders, including former deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh and former ministers Sat Paul Sharma, Priya Sethi and Sham Lal Choudhary.
Earlier on Monday, many BJP workers threatened to act as rebels in the polls starting September 18, warning that their votes would undermine the party and weaken its position.
The workers were protesting the party’s decision to drop preferred leaders and award tickets to others.