Omar Abdullah Criticises BJP For Rapid Withdrawal Of Candidate List

Following reports that the BJP withdrew its candidate list for the Jammu and Kashmir elections, JKNC Vice President Omar Abdullah commented on Monday that it was the first time he had seen BJP retract its list just 10 minutes after its release. He advised the party to concentrate on organising its own affairs.

“The BJP should focus on setting its house in order. For the first time, I saw that the BJP deleted its list within 10 minutes of releasing it. Today, chairs were broken in their offices,” Abdullah said.

BJP previously released a second list of candidates for the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir elections, naming Choudhary Roshan Hussain Gujjar for the Konkernag seat.

Initially, the party announced a list of 44 candidates for all three phases of the Assembly polls but later withdrew it. The revised list, issued a few hours later, included only 15 candidates for the first phase. BJP has nominated Syed Showkat Gayoor Andrabi for Pampore, Arshid Bhat for Rajpora, Javed Ahmad Qadri for Shopian, Mohd. Rafiq Wani for Anantnag West, Syed Wazahat for Anantnag, and Veer Saraf for Shangus-Anantnag East. Sofi Yousuf will contest from Srigufwara-Bijbehara, Tariq Keen from Inderwal, and Salim Bhat from Banihal. Shagun Parihar is the only woman candidate on the list, running from Kishtwar. The party has also fielded Sunil Sharma for Padder-Nagseni, Daleep Singh Parihar for Bhadarwah, Gajay Singh Rana for Doda, Shakti Raj Parihar for Doda West, and Rakesh Thakur for Ramban.

Jammu and Kashmir is set for multi-cornered contests in most constituencies. This will be the first Assembly election since the abrogation of Article 370. Polling will take place in three phases on September 18, 25, and October 1, with vote counting scheduled for October 4. The state has 90 Assembly constituencies, including seven reserved for SCs and nine for STs.