Jammu, Mar 10: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) unit in Jammu & Kashmir has completed the shortlisting process for potential candidates to contest the three Lok Sabha seats in the Kashmir region and has forwarded the list to the party’s central leadership for final approval.
With no agreement reached yet among the National Conference (NC), Congress and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) regarding a potential alliance, speculation is rife among these parties regarding the selection of candidates for the parliamentary seats in Kashmir. This speculation intensified following the recent massive rally by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Bakshi Stadium in Kashmir.
According to reliable sources within the BJP, there is a strong likelihood that Muzaffar Hussain Beigh, the co-founder of the PDP, may be fielded as the BJP candidate for one of the Lok Sabha seats in Kashmir, particularly the Baramulla seat. Beigh was present as a VIP invitee at both rallies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, held in Jammu last month and in Kashmir on the 7th of this month.
The J&K unit of the BJP has sent a list of shortlisted candidates to the party’s high command for consideration for the three Lok Sabha seats in Kashmir. The BJP has identified the Rajouri-Poonch-Anantnag seat, which was formed after delimitation, as its primary focus among the three Lok Sabha seats in Kashmir.
Dr Devender Manyal, BJP General Secretary and former minister in the BJP-PDP coalition government, informed Rising Kashmir that after thorough discussions, the J&K unit of the BJP has forwarded the shortlisted names for all three seats in Kashmir to the party’s high command.
While several senior BJP leaders declined to disclose the names of the shortlisted candidates sent to the party’s high command, they did not rule out the possibility of Muzaffar Hussain Baigh emerging as the BJP’s candidate or receiving support as an independent candidate for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The final decision on candidates will be made by the party’s central leadership after reviewing the names forwarded by the state unit.
The BJP has already announced its candidates for two Lok Sabha seats in the Jammu region. Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh will contest from the Kathua-Udhampur-Doda Lok Sabha seat, while Jugal Kishore Sharma will contest from the Jammu-Reasi Lok Sabha seat.
A high-level meeting of the BJP high command is scheduled to take place on Monday in Delhi to finalize the names of Lok Sabha candidates.
