J&K Assembly Polls: BJP releases fourth list, state unit chief Ravinder Raina to contest from Nowshera

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday announced the fourth list of six candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. The saffron party has nominated J&K unit chief Ravinder Raina from the Nowshera constituency.

With the release of the fourth list for Assembly polls, the BJP has so far named 51 candidates, including 14 for the Kashmir Valley. All these six seats will under for polling in the second phase of Assembly elections.

The BJP, in its fourth list of candidates, has named Er. Aijaz Hussain from Lal Chowk, Arif Raja from Edigah, Dr. Ali Mohammad Mir from Khansahib, Zahid Hussain from Chrar-i-Sharief, Vibodh Gupta from Rajouri (ST) and state unit chief Ravinder Raina from Nowshera constituency.

It is notable that the saffron party has yet not opened its account in Kashmir Valley in the Assembly elections.

It is important to note that the saffron party has not nominated some senior party leaders including former Jammu and Kashmir deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh and former ministers Sat Paul Sharma, Sham Lal Choudhary and Priya Sethi till yet in its list of candidates released after the approval of the central election committee of the party.

The party has appointed the former general secretary Ram Madhav and Union minister G Kishan Reddy as in-charges for the upcoming assembly elections in the Union territory.

Earlier in the day, the Congress released the list of candidates for Phase 2 assembly elections. The list includes key candidates, including Tariq Hameed Karra from Central Shalteng, who was appointed Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee chief in August. Other notable names in the list were Mumtaz Khan from Reasi, Bhupender Jamwal from Mata Vaishno Devi, Iftikhar Ahmed from Rajouri (ST), Shabbir Ahmed Khan from Thannamandi (ST), and Mohammad Shahnawaz Choudhary from Surankote (ST).

The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has a 90-member assembly. The UT is going to polls in three phases on September 18, 25 and October 1.

This will be the first assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir since the revocation of Article 370 of the Constitution in August 2019.