J&K polls: BJP to not field candidates on 28 seats in Kashmir

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has decided to contest only 19 of the 47 assembly seats in the Kashmir valley in the upcoming three-phase elections starting Sep 18.

While the last date for nomination filing for the third phase of the elections ended on Sep 12, the BJP announced that it will not field candidates on 28 seats in Jammu and Kashmir.

The announcement comes even after Union Home Minister Amit Shah declared that the party would contest all the 90 assembly seats in the Union Territory.

The decision has disappointed senior party leaders, who were already accusing the BJP of “ignoring their sacrifices.”

"Many of us are already disappointed. When it was time to reward us, the party didn’t trust us. They either skipped the seats or fielded candidates who are new to the party," a senior leader was quoted as saying.

Notably, the BJP had skipped contesting all three seats in J&K in the Lok Sabha polls held in May this year, but Shah had regretted this and urged the party workers to prepare for all 90 assembly seats.

There was no official explanation provided for the BJP's change of stance. However, party insiders were quoted as saying the decision was a "tactical move" as the party does not expect "any miracles" in the valley.

The party's final list of 19 candidates in Kashmir includes eight from the 16 Assembly seats in South Kashmir, six from the 15 seats in Central Kashmir, and five from the 16 seats in North Kashmir.