NEW DELHI/JAMMU, Aug 26 (Agencies): The BJP on Monday named 16 candidates for the first phase of elections to the 90-member Jammu and Kashmir Assembly to be held on September 18.
The party had earlier released its first list of 44 candidates but put out a revised one a few hours later, withdrawing names for the second and third phases, amid disgruntlement among a section of party cadre over a few names in the original list.
While Jammu and Kashmir BJP president Ravinder Raina downplayed the resentment over the initial list, a group of party workers held a protest at its headquarters in Jammu and claimed “parachute candidates” were picked over hardworking workers.
The list of 16 candidates for the first phase includes three former MLAs and a woman candidate, Shagun Parihar, whose father Ajeet Parihar and uncle Anil Parihar were gunned down by terrorists in Kishtwar district in November 2018. The Parihar brothers were affiliated with the BJP.
The initial list covered 36 segments in the Jammu region and eight in the Kashmir Valley. It included nearly a dozen prominent leaders, including several former ministers who have joined the party in the last five years.
Ten former MLAs, including ex-deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh and ex-Jammu and Kashmir BJP chief Sat Paul Sharma, have been dropped.
Sharing the revised list of candidates, the BJP said the names for the second and third phases should be considered withdrawn.
In the Jammu region’s Chenab Valley, the BJP has fielded former ministers Sunil Sharma (Padder-Nagseni constituency) and Shakti Raj Parihar (Doda-West), former MLA Daleep Singh Parihar (Bhaderwah), Shagun Parihar (Kishtwar), Tariq Keen (Inderwal), Gajay Singh Rana (Doda), Rakesh Thakur (Ramban) and Salim Bhat (Banihal).
The BJP’s Neelam Kumar Langeh had won the Ramban constituency in the 2014 elections but was dropped this time.
In the Kashmir Valley, the BJP has fielded its vice president Sofi Yousu (Srigufwara-Bijbehara), Syed Showkat Gayoor Andrabi (Pampore), Arshid Bhat (Rajpora), Javed Ahmad Qadri (Shopian), Mohd Rafiq Wani (Anantnag West), Syed Wazahat (Anantnag), Veer Saraf (Shangus-Anantnag East) and Choudhary Roshan Hussain Gujjar (Kokernag-ST).
Some angry BJP workers from different assembly constituencies staged a protest at the party headquarters over the leadership “ignoring” hardworking workers and giving the mandate to “parachute candidates”.
“I have been associated with the party for the last 18 years and have worked day and night to strengthen it but the mandate was given to a person who joined the party only a few days back,” said BJP Scheduled Caste Morcha president Jagdish Bhagat.
Welcoming the withdrawal of the initial list, he said, “We hope that party leaders would be given the mandate instead of those who have done nothing for the party.”
“If they ignore us, there will be serious consequences. We will not allow any wrongdoing and will protest against this injustice within the party,” Bhagat said.