New Delhi, 26 August

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday released its first list of candidates for the Jammu and Kashmir elections, which will be held in three phases on 18, 25 September and 1 October.

The first list includes 15 candidates and the party has sought to give representation to various communities and castes. It has candidates from both the Jammu and Kashmir regions.

The party subsequently declared its candidate from Konkernag seat also.

Sources said the BJP has sought to reflect the region's diverse demographic composition and strengthen its outreach among different communities.

The party has fielded Syed Showkat Gayoor Andrabi from Pampore, Arshid Bhat from Rajpora, Javed Ahmad Qadri from Shopian, Mohd. Rafiq Wani from Anantnag West, Syed Wazahat from Anantnag while Veer Saraf is in the fray from Shangus-Anantnag East.

The party has fielded Sofi Yousuf from Srigufwara-Bijbehara, Tariq Keen from Inderwal and Salim Bhat from Banihal. Shagun Parihar, the only woman in the list, will contest from Kishtwar.

BJP has fielded Sunil Sharma from Padder-Nagseni, Daleep Singh Parihar from Bhadarwah and Gajay Singh Rana from Doda, Shakti Raj Parihar from Doda West and Rakesh Thakur from Ramban constituency.

Choudhary Roshan Hussain Gujjar will contest from Kokernag. The Election Commission has issued notification for the first phase of elections in which 24 seats will go to the polls.

Jammu and Kasmhmir is expected to witness multi-cornered contests on most seats. It is the first assembly polls since the abrogation of Article 370.

In the Lok Sabha elections held earlier this year, the BJP won both the seats in Jammu, again demonstrating its strong support in the region. The National Conference also won two seats. The votes will be counted on 4 October.