Jammu And Kashmir Assembly Polls: Major Political Parties Yet To Finalize Candidates

While the People's Democratic Party,Aam Aadmi Party,Apni Party, Democratic Progressive Azad Party have issued the list of candidates, major political parties including the BJP, NC and Congress are yet to issue the candidates list even as a few hours are left for nomination for the first phase of assembly elections, reports ETV Bharat's Mohd Ashraf Ganie.

Jammu (Jammu and Kashmir): With a few hours left for the nomination, major political parties in Jammu and Kashmir yet to finalise the candidate list for the first phase of the much delayed assembly election.

The electoral process will be held over three phases---on September 18, September 25, and October 1. Out of the 90 assembly constituencies, 24 seats will be contested in the first phase, 26 in the second phase, and 40 in the final phase.

People's Democratic Party,Aam Aadmi Party,Apni Party, Democratic Progressive Azad Party have issued the list of candidates so far.

However the major Political parties including BJP, Congress, National Conference have yet to issue the final list of their candidates.

The delay from Congress and National Conference is attributed to ongoing seat-sharing negotiations and possible internal discord. The deliberations between Congress and NC on seat sharing are going on for past four days after Rahul Gandhi and Congress president Malikarjun Kharge met National Conference president Dr Farooq and vice president Omar Abdullah at their residence in Srinagar.

National Conference leader Sajjad Shaheen criticized the Congress for claiming dominance in seats without solid ground support.
Shaheen told ETV Bharat that "It is unfortunate that the Congress is claiming dominance in several seats without having a solid base on the ground. The Congress has no candidates in many constituencies and requires an alliance mandate for these areas. What is the point of such an alliance?”
Meanwhile the meeting of the BJP Central Election Committee was held in New Delhi on Sunday to finalise the names of the candidates for upcoming assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP President Jagat Prakash Nadda, Union Ministers Amit Shah and Jitendra Singh and other senior leaders of the party were present in the meeting. As per party sources, the list of candidates will be made public today.

In the last Assembly polls held in 2014, the BJP and People's Democratic Party formed a coalition government.

In June 2018, the BJP walked out of the PDP-led coalition government, leading to the dissolution of the Assembly by then-Governor Satya Pal Malik in November of that year.