The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday named 16 candidates for the first phase of elections in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), including Shagun Parihar, who lost her father and uncle in a terror attack five years ago.
Resentment within the party ranks at its state unit and confusion marred the release of the BJP list.
The BJP initially announced its 44 candidates for the three phases but later withdrew that list when party workers protested against the candidates it had named for the second and third phases.
BJP J&K unit chief Ravinder Raina played down anger over the initial list.
However, a group of party workers protested at its headquarters in Jammu and claimed that “parachute candidates” were chosen instead of committed and hardworking workers.
The list of 16 candidates for the first phase includes three former lawmakers and Shagun, 29, the only woman candidate on the list.
His father Ajeet Parihar and uncle Anil Parihar, who were BJP leaders, were killed by terrorists in Kishtwar district in November 2018.
Shagun, who is pursuing her PhD in electronics, said unemployment is a major problem in the region.
The initial list covered 36 segments of Jammu region and eight from the Kashmir valley. It included nearly a dozen prominent leaders, including several former ministers, who joined the party in the last five years.
Ten former lawmakers, including former Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh and former J&K BJP chief Sat Paul Sharma, have been removed.
Sharing the revised list of candidates, the BJP said the names for the second and third phases should be considered withdrawn.
BJP’s scheduled caste (SC) party president Jagdish Bhagat welcomed the withdrawal from the initial list. “If we are ignored, there will be serious consequences. We will not allow any irregularities and will protest against this injustice within the party,” Bhagat told PTI.
The first phase will involve polling in 24 Assembly segments (16 in Kashmir and eight in Jammu) on September 18.
The BJP Central Election Committee met on Sunday evening to decide on the candidates for the elections.
The second and third phases of the elections will be held on September 25 and October 1. The counting will resume on October 4.
In the last Assembly elections held in Jammu and Kashmir in 2014, the BJP had won 25 seats.
In the Chenab Valley of Jammu region, the BJP has fielded former ministers Sunil Sharma (Padder-Nagseni constituency) and Shakti Raj Parihar (Doda-West), former MP Daleep Singh Parihar (Bhaderwah), Shagun Parihar (Kishtwar), Tariq Keen (Inderwal), Gajay Singh Rana (Doda), Rakesh Thakur (Ramban) and Salim Bhat (Banihal).
BJP’s Neelam Kumar Langeh had won the Ramban constituency in the 2014 elections but was defeated this time.
In the Kashmir Valley, the BJP has deployed 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).
In another development, National Conference (NC) Vice President Omar Abdullah on Monday asked a visiting delegation of US diplomats to review travel advisories for J&K and ease restrictions on visiting the union territory.
“He also invited the diplomats to visit Kashmir with their families as a first step towards instilling confidence among tourists from the US and other parts of the world,” the NC said.
Several countries have issued travel advisories asking their citizens not to visit Jammu and Kashmir. In its latest travel advisory issued in July this year, the US government asked its citizens to exercise extreme caution in India due to crime and terrorism.
First published: August 26, 2024 | 19:39 IS
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