BJP releases list of 29 more candidates, political turncoats find place

All other names are same for the same set of constituencies, announced by the party on Monday before being recanted

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday declared 29 more candidates for the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) assembly elections, making only one change from the now-rescinded list, which was put out by the party a day back, as it named Baldev Raj Sharma from the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi seat in place of Rohit Dubey.

The BJP has so far not named its nominee for Nowshera, which was represented in 2014 by its current state president Ravinder Raina, and Gandhi Nagar, renamed as Bhau assembly constituency, from where the party’s senior leader and former deputy CM Kavinder Gupta was elected in 2014. (HT Photo)

All other names are same for the same set of constituencies, announced by the party on Monday before being recanted. With the latest 29 names, the BJP has so far declared its candidates for half of the total 90 seats in J&K.

Besides Baldev Sharma, the BJP has also fielded Satish Sharma as its candidate from Billawar, which was represented by former deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh in the last assembly polls held a decade back in 2014. The party has also announced candidature of Ashok Bhat from Habbakadal, Mohammad Akram Choudhary from Gulabgarh, Kuldeep Raj Dubey from Reasi, Thakur Randhir Singh from Kalakote-Sunderbani and Devender Singh Rana from Nagrota.

Elections to the 90-member J&K assembly — 47 seats in Kashmir and 43 in Jammu — will be held in three phases on September 18, 25 and October 1. The BJP’s latest list has 10 candidates for the second phase of polls and 19 for the third phase. The results will be announced on October 4.

Apart from former deputy CM Nirmal Singh, the BJP has also dropped senior leaders and former ministers Sat Paul Sharma, Priya Sethi and Sham Lal Choudhary.

On Monday, the BJP issued and then quickly withdrew a list of 44 candidates for the assembly polls in the Union territory amid rumblings of discontent within the party over opportunities given to leaders with roots in other parties. The BJP later announced 16 candidates for the first phase of the polls. Tuesday was the last date for filing of nominations for the first phase polls for 24 seats.

On Tuesday, the BJP also fielded former Apni Party vice-president Choudhary Zulfikar Ali from Budhal, Mohammad Iqbal Malik from Thannamandi, former National Conference leader Syed Mushtaq Ahmed Bukhari from Surankote, Choudhary Abdul Ghani from Poonch Haveli, former PDP leader Murtaza Khan from Mendhar, Pawan Gupta from Udhampur West, and former Panthers Party leader Balwant Singh Mankotia from Chenani.

The BJP has so far not named its nominee for Nowshera, which was represented in 2014 by its current state president Ravinder Raina, and Gandhi Nagar, renamed as Bhau assembly constituency, from where the party’s senior leader and former deputy CM Kavinder Gupta was elected in 2014.