New Delhi: The Bhartiya Janata party on August 27 released its third list of candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. The assembly polls are being held in three phases on September 18, 25 and October 1.
The third list has candidates from the second and third phases of elections. The party declared 10 candidates for the second phase and 19 candidates for the third phase of polls.
The BJP has fielded Ashok Bhat from Habbakadal, Mohammad Akram Chaudhary from Gulabgarh, Kuldeep Raj Dubey (Reasi), Baldev Raj Sharma (Shri Mata Vaishno Devi) and Thakur Randhir Singh (Kalakote-Sunderbani).
The party has fielded Chowdhary Zulfikar Ali from Budhal, Mohammad Iqbal Malik (Thannamandi), Syed Mushtaq Ahmed Bukhari (Surankote), Chowdhary Abdul Ghani (Poonch Haveli), Murtaza Khan (Mendhar), Pawan Gupta (Udhampur West), Balwant Singh Mankotia (Chenani), Sunil Bhardwaj (Ramnagar), Jeevan Lal (Bani), Satish Sharma (Billawar), Darshan Singh from (Basholi), Rajiv Jasrotia (Jasrota), Vijay Kumar Sharma (Hiranagar), Devinder Kumar Maniyal (Ramgarh), Surjit Singh Salathia (Samba), Chandra Prakash Ganga (Vijaypur), Gharu Ram Bhagat (Suchetgarh), Narinder Singh Raina (RS Pura-Jammu South), Yudhvir Sethi (Jammu East), Devinder Singh Rana (Nagrota), Arvind Gupta (Jammu West), Sham Lal Sharma (Jammu North), Mohan Lal Bhagat (Akhnoor) and Rajeev Sharma (Chhamb).
BJP has sought to reflect the region’s diverse demographic composition in candidate selection and strengthen its outreach among different communities. Jammu and Kashmir is expected to witness multi-cornered contests on most seats. It is the first assembly poll since the abrogation of Article 370.
The votes will be counted on October 4. In the Lok Sabha elections held earlier this year, the BJP won both the seats in Jammu, again demonstrating its strong support in the region. The National Conference also won two seats. (With inputs from ANI)
