The BJP on Tuesday named 29 more candidates for the Jammu and Kashmir polls, which will hold elections for the first time in a decade, taking to 45 the number of seats for which it has announced its nominees.

On Monday, the party had released a list of 44 candidates, but deleted it soon after. Hours later, it released a fresh list with only names of 15 candidates picked for the first phase of the election. Later in the day, another list with just one name was released.

The party’s latest list has 10 candidates for the second phase of polls and 19 for the third phase.

It has made one change from the now-rescinded list, as it has named Baldev Raj Sharma from Shri Mata Vaishno Devi seat in place of Rohit Dubey.

It has fielded Devender Singh Rana from Nagrota and named Satish Sharma as its candidate from Billawar, which was represented by former deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh in the last assembly polls held in 2014.

The BJP has so far not named its nominee for Nowshera, which was represented in 2014 by its current state president Ravinder Raina, and Gandhinagar, from where its another senior leader and former deputy chief minister Kavinder Gupta was elected in the last polls.

Rival parties, the Congress and National Conference, on Monday reached a seat-sharing deal. The regional NC will contest the majority of seats – 51 – and the Congress will contest 32.

Voting for the region’s 90-member assembly will be staggered over three stages between September 18 and October 1. Votes will be counted in October 4.

The last elections in the region were held in 2014, when the BJP entered into a ruling coalition with Mehbooba Mufti-led the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The assembly was dissolved in 2018 after the BJP pulled out and the coalition collapsed.

In 2019, the Centre cancelled the partial autonomy of the region, turning it into a federally administered “union territory”.

That change stalled planned polls, and since then there have been no local-level lawmakers.

There is no delay, underscored the Chief Election Commissioner when pointed out that the polls dates for Jammu and Kashmir are crossing the September 30 deadline set by the Supreme Court.

Jammu and Kashmir, where previous assembly elections were held in the 2014, will have polls in three phases – September 18, 25 and October 1, the Election Commission announced today. The votes will be counted on October 4.

The decision to hold fresh elections follows a December order by Supreme Court that rejected petitions challenging the revocation of Kashmir’s special status and set a deadline of September 30 for holding the polls.

“The Amarnath Yatra ends on August 19. The parliamentary polls ended on June 4,6. Thereafter bad weather, Amarnath Ji Yatra. There is no way one could have gone exactly on the date which is 19th. We are not giving even half a day when one could have started. And it is well begun within the time period and it will be finished in time,” said Rajiv Kumar, the Chief Election Commissioner.

“So, it is not a day here and there which is important. What is important is that we go by the spirit. The amendments to J&K Reorganization Act, in terms of providing the reservations, came in December 2023 so the time period for the Commission started only in December 2023. Thereafter came the parliamentary elections, so we are not delayed at all,” the Chief Election Commissioner stressed.

Jammu and Kashmir’s special status was revoked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government in 2019 and the state was split into two federally-administered territories.

Nearly 9 million people are registered to vote for the 90-member legislative assembly, the election panel said.

The territory recorded its highest turnout of 58.46% in 35 years in parliamentary elections held in April and May this year.

The Modi government and election officials said this reflected the faith of Kashmir’s voters in the democratic process.

Amid an uptick in the terror-related incidents in the recent past, the Chief Election Commissioner said, “Security threats to candidates will be thoroughly under the radar of the establishment and will be taken care of.”

“There is festival season in J&K. There is season of apple. Of Jasmine. Of Saffron. There are shikaras and tulips. There is a Gurez festival also. All these things have come together,” said the top poll officer, underlining that the time is right for the polls.

New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that Article 370 was neither the agenda of the people of Kashmir nor of the country but only of “four-five families” and that it is a matter of greatest satisfaction for him that the brothers and sisters in Kashmir came forward to vote with great enthusiasm in the Lok Sabha polls.

In an exclusive interview with the news agency ANI, the Prime Minister said there is a feeling of more unity with the removal of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, the feeling of belongingness is increasing and the result is visible in the elections and in the increase in tourism.

“Article 370 was the agenda of only four-five families, it was neither the agenda of the people of Kashmir nor the agenda of the people of the country. For their benefit, they had built such a wall of 370 and used to say that if 370 is removed, there will be a fire…Today it has become true that after the removal of 370, there is a feeling of more unity. The feeling of belongingness is increasing among the people of Kashmir and hence its direct result is also visible in elections, tourism,” he said.

Modi government abrogated Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019, months after it came to office for the second successive term.

The Prime Minister noted that the people in Kashmir warmly welcomed the delegates during events related to the G20 summit.

Srinagar, Baramulla and Anantnag-Rajouri parliamentary constituencies in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir saw record turnout in Lok Sabha polls held in different phases earlier this month.

Srinagar recorded 38.49 per cent polling, Baramulla 59.1 per cent and Anantnag-Rajouri 51.35 per cent as of 5 pm on April 25, the day the polling was held on the seat. The polling has been highest since 1989. These were the first Lok Sabha elections in Jamu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370.

The Prime Minister said that the decisions of the government were always for a good cause.

“First of all, I would like to pray to the justice system of our country that if the government wants to do any work, they have a design, strategy to do that work. To solve such problems, work had to be done under that strategy. Now sometimes I had to shut down the internet for that. Some NGO went to court and it became a big issue in the court but today the children there proudly say that the internet has not been shut down for the last 5 years and we have been getting all the facilities for the last 5 years. There was some pain for a few days, but it was for a good cause… It is very important to save the country from such NGOs,” he said.

The Prime Minister said that enthusiastic participation of voters in Lok Sabha polls has given a message to the world and “those who had doubts”.

“When the common man votes there, it is not just to make someone win, voting means that the voter accepts the Constitution of India and expresses his dedication towards the entire spirit of India… As a result, voting records of 40 years have been broken. It is a matter of greatest satisfaction for me that my brothers and sisters from Kashmir came forward to vote with great enthusiasm. By voting, they have given a message to the world and to those who used to have doubts,” he said.

Voting has been held in six phases of Lok Sabha polls and will conclude with the last phase on June 1. Votes will be counted on June 4.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)