BJP releases 3rd list of 29 candidates for Phase-II, III

Jammu, Aug 27: A day after its hurried withdrawal, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in an intriguing twist, Tuesday released the third list of its 29 candidates for phase-II and III of J&K assembly elections, incorporating just one change.

This change related to the candidate of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi.

The party, in the revised list, gave mandate to Baldev Raj Sharma,

instead of Rohit Dubey, whose name was there in the list withdrawn.

For the rest of the names, the party stuck to its guns, in a clear snub to those, who had protested on Monday against, what they alleged, “a preference to paratroopers over loyal, dedicated soldiers” in full media glare, thus bringing embarrassment to the organisation.

Interestingly, in contrast to Monday’s noisy scenario, the situation was near-total normal in the party headquarters in Jammu, after the fresh list was issued this afternoon. Indication was clear that the party had effectively handled (might be temporarily) resentment against the leadership’s decision vis-a-vis mandate.

Though earlier, few women workers from Ramnagar gathered outside the party office to register their protest against, what they alleged, “lack of representation to Naari-Shakti (women power) in the list of candidates.”

If one goes by the party sources, the list was withdrawn for rectifying the name of candidate for Shri Mata Vaishno Devi seat only, following additional inputs about winnability and influence of the nominee (in the new list).

“To be precise, it was a kind of show-down between two top leaders of the J&K unit. Finally, the choice of leader, who holds sway at the central level, prevailed. The party’s main concern, anyway, is the winnability quotient of the candidate,” sources said.

WHO WINS MANDATE?

Third list included names of 10 candidates for the assembly segments, including one from Kashmir region, going to polls in the second phase and 19 candidates for the constituencies, going to polls in the third phase. With this list, the party has so far declared its 45 candidates - nine candidates for assembly constituencies in Kashmir region and 36 for assembly segments in Jammu region.

The list includes all those prominent leaders who joined BJP after leaving other mainstream political parties like Congress, National Conference (NC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

They included former ministers Sham Lal Sharma, Devender Singh Rana, Syed Mushtaq Ahmad Bukhari, Chowdhary Zulfikar and Surjit Singh Slathia, ex-legislators Murtaza Khan, Balwant Singh Mankotia besides Chowdhary Abdul Ghani.

Besides, Baldev Raj from Shri Mata Vaishno Devi, the list of 10 candidates for the second phase includes Ashok Bhat from Habba Kadal, Mohammad Akram Chaudhary from Gulabgarh (ST), Kuldeep Raj Dubey from Reasi, Thakur Randhir Singh from Kalakote-Sunderbani, Chowdhary Zulfikar Ali from Budhal (ST), Mohd Iqbal Malik from Thannamandi (ST), Syed Mushtaq Ahmad Bukhari from Surankote (ST), Chowdhary Abdul Ghani from Poonch-Haveli and Murtaza Khan from Mendhar (ST).

List of 19 candidates for third phase includes Pawan Gupta from Udhampur West, Balwant Singh Mankotia from Chenani, Sunil Bhardwaj from Ramnagar (SC), Jeevan Lal from Bani, Satish Sharma from Billawar, Darshan Singh from Basohli, Rajiv Jasrotia from Jasrota, Advocate Vijay Kumar Sharma from Hiranagar, Dr Devinder Kumr Maniyal from Ramgarh (SC), Surjit Singh Slathia from Samba, Chandra Prakash Ganga from Vijaypur, Gharu Ram Bhagat from Suchetgarh (SC), Dr Narinder Singh Raina from R S Pura-Jammu South, Yudhvir Sethi from Jammu East, Devender Singh Rana from Nagrota, Arvind Gupta from Jammu-West, Sham Lal Sharma from Jammu North, Mohan Lal Bhagat from Akhnoor (SC) and Rajeev Sharma from Chhamb.

Former SSP Mohan Lal Bhagat had joined BJP last week.

Meanwhile, all eight BJP candidates for phase I filed their nomination. Eight seats of Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban districts from Jammu region will go to polls in the first phase on September 18.