J&K Assembly polls: BJP withdraws first list of candidates within hours, releases fresh one

The BJP on Monday (August 26) released a list of 44 candidates for the three-phase election to 90 assembly seats in Jammu and Kashmir only to withdraw it later.

Interestingly, the BJP released a fresh list within hours, but it had names of only 15 candidates picked for the first phase of the election. No changes have been made in the candidates picked for the first phase.

Three key names were missing in the list that the party withdrawn -- Jammu and Kashmir BJP president Ravinder Raina, and former Deputy Chief Ministers Nirmal Singh and Kavinder Gupta. The list had the name of Union minister Dr Jitendra Singh's brother Devendra Rana, who was fielded from Nagrota. Rana had switched loyalty from the National Conference.

Two Kashmiri Pandits and 14 Muslim candidates were also named in the now-withdrawn list, apart from several former leaders of Congress, National Conference, PDP and Panthers Party, who switched sides and joined the BJP. The candidates announced in the earlier list included 15 for the first phase of polls, 10 for the second phase and 19 for the third phase.

Media reports said the earlier list led to a lot of resentment due to some key omissions. It is this pushback that appears to have forced the party to withdraw the three-phase list and re-release only the names of candidates for the first phase.

The BJP's Central Election Committee had met on Sunday evening (August 25) to finalise the party's candidates for the polls.

The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is going to polls in three phases on September 18, 25, and October 1.

In the last assembly elections held in 2014, when Jammu and Kashmir was a full-fledged state, the BJP had won 25 seats.