Srinagar, Aug 26: The Bhartiya Janata Party on Monday announced the first list of 44 candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir.

BJP has fielded Syed Wazahat from Anantnag, Kuldeep Raj Dubey from Reasi, and Gajay Singh Rana from Doda. Arshid Bhat will contest from Rajpora and Sushri Shagun Parihar from Kishtwar. Pawan Gupta to contest from Udhampur West, Dr. Devinder Kumar Maniyal to contest from Ramgarh (SC), and Mohan Lal Bhagat to contest from Akhnoor. Rohit Dubey to contest from Shri Mata Vaishno Devi, and Chowdhary Abdul Ghani to contest from Poonch Haveli.

The list of candidates was released after the meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party Central Election Committee under the chairmanship of JP Nadda. PM Narendra Modi and Amit Shah were also present at the meeting.

Polling in Jammu and Kashmir will be conducted in three phases on September 18, 25, and October 1, according to the Election Commission of India. The counting of votes will take place on October 4.

There are a total number of 90 assembly constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir, out of which 7 seats are reserved for SCs and 9 seats are reserved for STs.

According to the Election Commission of India, Jammu and Kashmir has 88.06 lakh eligible electors.

Notably, in the last Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, the PDP won 28 votes, the Bharatiya Janata Party won 25 votes, the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference won 15 votes and the Congress won 12 votes.

The PDP and BJP formed a coalition Government led by Mufti Mohammed Sayeed. However, in 2018, the BJP withdrew its support from the alliance after Mehbooba Mufti took over following Mufti Mohammed Sayeed's demise.

These are the first assembly elections to be held in Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370.

(ANI)

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