JAMMU, August 19: Although the countdown for the Assembly elections has started with the announcement of the schedule by the Election Commission of India, the BJP has yet to finalize panels of potential candidates for all constituencies.
While the J&K BJP president Ravinder Raina on Sunday hinted at leaving 8 to 10 Assembly seats for some like-minded Independents, the party is still conducting exercise to shortlist the potential candidates for nearly 80 constituencies.
In Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Udhampur, Reasi, and Rajouri districts, on average three to four candidates have been staking their claims on a single Assembly constituency so party leadership is discussing all winning aspects before shortlisting names.
Sources said that a panel of three candidates for each Assembly segment would be constituted and the same would be forwarded to the BJP high command.
Although discussions on the names of candidates were going on, the party has yet to finalizing the process.
Final decision on candidates would be taken by the party Parliamentary Board and the names of the candidates would be released phased-wise.
According to reports, the panels prepared by the J&K unit of the party would be placed before the central leadership and feedback of the two private agencies hired by the party would also be taken into consideration while finalizing names of the candidates.
Meanwhile, Union Minister and BJP’s election incharge for J&K G Kishan Reddy announced on Monday that the selection of candidates will soon be finalized under the leadership of BJP National President and Union Minister JP Nadda.
Reddy emphasized that the national election committee will have the final say in candidate selection. “The state election committee will recommend names, and from there, a panel will be formed. Ultimately, under the guidance of BJP National President JP Nadda the candidates’ names will be finalized. Since the nomination deadline is August 27, the announcement will be made this week,” Reddy stated.
EOM
