The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has released its first list of 44 candidates for all three phases of the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections. The party has fielded 15 candidates for the first phase (September 18), 10 candidates for the second phase (September 25), and 19 candidates for the third phase (October 1), ensuring strong representation across the electoral process.
Among the 14 Muslims who have received tickets, eight are from Muslim-majority seats in Jammu, indicating the party's strategy to make inroads into these constituencies.
Additionally, two Kashmiri Pandits have been nominated from the Kashmir Valley: Vir Saraf from Anantnag East-Shangus and Ashok Bhat from Habbakadal, marking a significant outreach to the Pandit community.
The party has also fielded only one woman candidate, Shagun Parihar, who will contest from Kishtwar. Moreover, four Dalit candidates have been given tickets from the four SC reserved seats.
However, the list has raised eyebrows due to the omission of several prominent figures. Notably, Dr. Nirmal Singh has been dropped from the Billawar seat, and Sat Sharma has been removed from the Jammu West seat.
Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections are scheduled to be held in three phases from September 18 to October 1. The results will be declared on October 4.
First phase
Er. Syed Showkat Gayoor Andrabi from Pampore
Mohd. Rafiq Wani from Anantnag West
Arshid Bhat from Rajpora
Javed Ahmad Qadri from Shopian
Adv. Syed Wazahat from Anantnag
Srigufwara–Bijbehara from Sofi Yousuf
Veer Saraf from Shangus–Anantnag East
Tariq Keen from Inderwal
Shagun PariharKishtwar
Sunil Sharma from Padder–Nagseni
Daleep Singh Parihar from Bhadarwah
Gajay Singh Rana from Doda
Shakti Raj Parihar from Doda West
Rakesh Thakur from Ramban
Salim Bhat from Banihal
Second phase
Habbakadal- Ashok Bhat
Gulabgarh (ST)- Mohammad Akram Chaudhary
Reasi- Kuldeep Raj Dubey
Shri Mata Vaishno Devi- Rohit Dubey
Kalakote–Sunderbani- Thakur Randhir Singh
Budhal (ST)- Chowdhary Zulfikar Ali
Thannamandi (ST)- Mohd. Iqbal Malik
Surankote (ST)- Syed Mushtaq Ahmad Bukhari
Poonch Haveli- Chowdhary Abdul Ghani
Mendhar (ST)- Murtaza Khan
Third Phase
Udhampur West-Pawan Gupta
Chenani- Balwant Singh Mankotia
Ramnagar (SC)- Sunil Bhardwaj
Bani- Jeevan Lal
Billawar- Satish Sharma
Basohli- Darshan Singh
Jasrota- Rajiv Jasrotia
Hiranagar- Adv. Vijay Kumar Sharma
Ramgarh (SC)- Dr. Devinder Kumar Maniyal
Samba- Surjit Singh Slathia
Vijaypur- Chandra Prakash Ganga
Suchetgarh (SC)- Gharu Ram Bhagat
R.S. Pura–Jammu South- Dr. Narinder Singh Raina
Jammu East- Yudhvir Sethi
Nagrota- Dr. Devinder Singh Rana
Jammu West- Arvind Gupta
Jammu NorthSham Lal Sharma
Akhnoor (SC)- Mohan Lal Bhagat
Chhamb- Rajeev Sharma
Source: India Today