New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has released a revised list of 15 candidates for the first phase of the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections. This comes after the party initially published a list of 44 candidates for all three phases of the polls, which was later retracted for revisions.In the earlier list, 14 Muslim candidates were given tickets, with eight of them slated to contest in Muslim-majority constituencies in Jammu. This move highlights the BJPs strategic effort to penetrate these key constituencies.Kashmiri pandit, female representationSignificantly, the updated list includes one Kashmiri Pandit candidate, Vir Saraf, who will represent the Anantnag East-Shangus constituency in the Kashmir Valley. This selection marks a noteworthy outreach to the Pandit community. In terms of gender representation, the BJP has nominated only one woman candidate, Shagun Parihar, who will be contesting from the Kishtwar constituency.Prominent leaders missing from the listNotably absent from the revised list are three prominent figures: Jammu and Kashmir BJP President Ravinder Raina, and former Deputy Chief Ministers Nirmal Singh and Kavinder Gupta.BJP releases amended list of 15 candidates for upcoming J&K Assembly elections pic.twitter.com/yUzU6lYrTB— ANI (@ANI) August 26, 2024Initial list withdrawn due to mistakeEarlier, on Monday, the BJP had released its first list of 44 candidates, which was promptly withdrawn just hours after its announcement. The initial list included 36 candidates from the Jammu region and eight from the Kashmir Valley, among them two Kashmiri Pandits, Veer Saraf and Ashok Bhat, nominated for the Shangus and Habbakadal constituencies, respectively.BJP withdraws first list of 44 candidates released for upcoming J&K Assembly Elections BJP to amend and release the list of candidates again pic.twitter.com/X9tqVoZ9Zv— ANI (@ANI) August 26, 2024Senior leaders, new facesReports suggest that the list was retracted because it mistakenly included names for all three phases of the election, while only the first phase was intended to be announced at that time. In the withdrawn list, senior leaders like former Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh and former ministers Sat Paul Sharma, Priya Sethi, and Sham Lal Choudhary were notably excluded.Election scheduleThe Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections are scheduled to be conducted in three phases, starting from September 18, with subsequent phases on September 25 and October 1. The results are expected to be declared on October 4.Voter demographics The first phase of polling is set for September 18, followed by the second phase on September 25, and the final phase on October 1. Jammu and Kashmir have a total of 87.09 lakh eligible voters, including 44.46 lakh males, 42.62 lakh females, and 3.71 lakh first-time voters. According to the Election Commission of India, the average number of voters per polling station is 735. The revised list also includes several new faces, such as Sunil Bhardwaj from Ramnagar, Jeevan Lal from Bani, and Satish Sharma from Billawar, a seat previously won by former Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh in 2014.
