Politics

Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Election: BJP Retracts Initial Candidate List Amid Protests by Dropped Leaders

On Monday, BJP leaders and workers in Jammu protested the controversial release and subsequent withdrawal of the party’s first list of 44 candidates for the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections.

The party had earlier announced a list of 44 candidates but made some notable exclusions that included the likes of former Deputy Chief Minister someone, former ministers Sat Paul Sharma, Priya Sethi, and Sham Lal Choudhary.

Showing its back against the wall, the BJP came out with two revised lists-one carrying the names of 15 candidates (eight from Jammu and seven from Kashmir) CONSTITUENCY-CANDIDATE and another with a single candidate, Choudhary Roshan Hussain Gujjar, for the Kokernag constituency.

Sources say that the first list was withdrawn because of an error: it erroneously included the candidates for all threephases rather than for the first phase alone.

Former SC Morcha president Jagdish Bhagat reacted angrily, saying, “I have been with the party for 18 years and was expecting a ticket. Instead, the list showed a recent joiner, Mohan Lal Bhagat, who was chosen over long-standing members like myself.”

The disappointment came to a boil with BJP workers protesting at the party headquarters, most significantly regarding the choice of Sham Lal Sharma—a recent Congress defector—from Jammu North over local leader Omi Khajuria. The supporters of Omi Khajuria said he was the more deserving candidate to the post.

Some of them even threatened that they would sabotage BJP’s prospects in the coming election if the move was effected, which indicated a potential danger of weakening the party’s position.

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Responding to the upheaval, BJP Jammu and Kashmir unit President Ravinder Raina said he needs to sit with the concerend persons independently. “The dialogue is the need of the hour to solve the issues. Our party harbors order and patriotism, and I believe that all members will keep up with our values,” Raina explained.

The election will happen in three phases, out of which the first phase will take place on September 18, the second on September 25, and the third on October 1.