In an unusual way, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released an updated list of just 15 candidates for the first phase of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections on Monday, following the withdrawal of its initial list of 44 candidates.
Earlier in the day, the BJP had released its first list of 44 candidates for the elections to the 90-member Jammu and Kashmir Assembly. The list had 15 for the first phase of polls, 10 for the second phase and 19 for the third phase.
However, later the revised list contains only names for the first phase. Three key names were missing in the now-deleted list said to have created uproar in the party. The names are Jammu and Kashmir BJP president Ravinder Raina, and former Deputy Chief Ministers Nirmal Singh and Kavinder Gupta.
Moreover, the list had the name of Union minister Dr Jitendra Singh’s brother Devendra Rana, who switched from the National Conference. Several former leaders of Congress, National Conference, PDP and Panthers Party, who switched sides and joined the BJP, also featured in the now-deleted list.
Some key omissions, it is learnt, led to an eruption of resentment after the first list was released. It is this pushback that appears to have forced the party to withdraw the three-phase list and re-release only the names of candidates for the first phase.
The BJP, which has maintained it will contest all seats in Jammu and Kashmir, has so far fielded seven candidates out of the 16 seats in south Kashmir that go to polls in the first phase.