BJP releases lists of 16 candidates

Jammu, Aug 26: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) preferred to rely on its old faces in Chenab valley, including former minister Sunil Sharma, with an exception or two as it issued two lists of candidates for first phase of J&K assembly elections, amid a flip-flop act, on Monday.

Initially, a list of 44 candidates for three phases was released yet it was withdrawn after it triggered a string of protests from its dedicated workers and ‘hopeful’ loyalists, that too in Jammu –  presumably its bastion. They were miffed that the party had given precedence to “outsiders” or “paratroopers” over its (party’s) loyal soldiers like them. While few openly expressed their anger, others, for the time being, chose to remain silent – preferring wait-n-watch policy.

The first list of 44 did not have the names of even heavy-weights like Ravinder Raina, J&K BJP president; former Deputy Chief Ministers Dr Nirmal Singh, Kavinder Gupta and former minister and ex J&K BJP president Sat Sharma. Yet it did include the names of such candidates from Jammu region, who entered BJP after leaving other mainstream political parties like Congress, National Conference (NC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), some few years ago and a couple of them just days ago. 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.

The list also saw names which did not have political background yet just recently joined BJP, including former SSP Mohan Lal.  

Facing heat, the party not only withdrew the list, it also immediately initiated damage-control exercise, overtly as well as covertly.

J&K BJP president Ravinder Raina held the front portico, pacifying angry leaders and their supporters with the assurance that their concerns would be addressed.

WHO BAGGED NOMINATION FOR PHASE ONE, FROM WHERE?

Meanwhile, after some time, the party released a fresh first list of 15 candidates for the first phase of elections only - with the note to consider the earlier issued list of candidates for second and third phases, among 44, as “cancelled.”

Notably, there was no change in the names of candidates for first phase even, in the fresh list of 15 candidates.

This list of 15 candidates did not have the name of former MLA Neelam Langeh, who represented BJP in 2014 from Ramban. He was the only exclusion among four victorious party candidates from Chenab valley in 2014 assembly elections.

While the party fielded its candidates from all eight seats of three districts of Chenab valley in Jammu region, it did not give nomination to anyone against eight seats, out of sixteen, in Kashmir region.

Those bagged BJP nomination for 2024 included Engineer Syed Showkat Gayoor Andrabi from Pampore; Arshid Bhat from Rajpora; Javed Ahmed Qadri from Shopian; Mohd Rafiq Wani from Anantnag West; Advocate Syed Wazahat from Anantnag; Sofi Yousuf from Srigufwara-Bijbehara, Veer Saraf from Shangus-Anantnag East; Tariq Keen from Inderwal; Shagun Parihar from Kishtwar; Sunil Sharma from Padder Nagseni, Daleep Singh Parihar from Bhaderwah; Gajay Singh Rana from Doda; Shakti Raj Parihar from Doda West; Rakesh Thakur from Ramban and Salim Bhat from Banihal assembly constituency.    

It was followed by another list which included only one name approved by BJP’s Central Election Committee (CEC) i.e., Choudhary Roshan Hussain Gujjar as candidate from reserved assembly segment of Kokernag (ST).

All these assembly segments will go to polls on September 18 in the first phase.

24 ASSEMBLY SEGMENTS TO GO TO POLLS IN FIRST PHASE

A total of 24 seats in seven districts of J&K will go to polls in the first phase.

Out of them, sixteen seats are in four districts viz., Pulwama, Kulgam, Shopian and Anantnag of Kashmir region while 8 seats are in three districts viz., Kishtwar, Doda and Ramban of Jammu region.

These assembly segments included Pampore, Tral, Pulwama, Rajpora in Pulwama district; Zainapora, Shopian in Shopian district; D H Pora, Kulgam, Devsar in Kulgam district and Dooru, Kokernag (ST), Anantnag West, Anantnag, Srigufwara-Bijbehara, Shangus-Anantnag East and Pahalgam in Anantnag district of Kashmir region; Inderwal, Kishtwar, Padder-Nageseni in Kishtwar district; Bhaderwah, Doda, Doda West in Doda district and Ramban and Banihal in Ramban district.   

TREMORS IN CHENAB VALLEY

Party experienced tremors in Chenab valley also after its list of the first phase.

Murmurs were there against the party’s choice for candidate from Kishtwar – only woman candidate - kin of slain Parihar brothers. Her father Ajit Parihar and uncle Anil Parihar, both having BJP-RSS background, were killed by terrorists in Kishtwar in 2018.

So far, these murmurs did not create any trouble for the party as it did not face any open protest. Shagun, however, expressed her gratitude to the party for her nomination and appealed to voters of assembly segments to support “daughter of Kishtwar.”

However, late in the evening, advocate Suraj Singh Parihar district vice president Ramban resigned and announced to contest as an independent.       

HOW PARTY HANDLED RESENTMENT?

Immediately after the first (initial) list of 44, disappointed party leaders and their supporters stormed the party headquarter in Jammu to register a protest.

Prominent among them were supporters of Omi Khajuria, who were demanding nomination for ‘dedicated party soldier (Khajuria)’ from Jammu North, where the party had opted former minister Sham Lal Sharma (in its first list of 44) and J&K BJP Scheduled Caste Morcha ex-president Jagdish Bhagat joined by his supporters. Bhagat was peeved over the party decision to give precedence to “newcomer”, who joined BJP just two-three days ago, over him in the reserved assembly segment of Akhnoor.

The party had given mandate to retired SSP Mohan Lal from Akhnoor (SC) in the first list (of 44), which was later withdrawn.

“I’ve been toiling hard for the last 18 years to strengthen the party in this assembly segment and a mandate has been given to the person (retired SSP), who joined BJP just two days ago. This injustice will not be tolerable to me and my supporters,” he told media persons.

Both Khajuria and Bhagat, however, welcomed the withdrawal of the list of 44 and hoped that justice would finally prevail in the fresh list.   

Raina, who was engaged in ‘fire-fighting exercise’, while speaking to reporters said that the first list was issued after long deliberations and the list for second and third phases too would be issued soon after clearance by CEC.

“BJP is a disciplined party. For us, nation comes first, followed by party and self. Every leader and worker is important to us. There may be certain concerns and confusion. They will be addressed,” Raina said. Other senior leaders of the party too endorsed his views.