Lok Sabha polls: BJP may give tickets to new faces in J&K

BJP leaders are working silently behind the curtains to make inroads and improve its tally by opening its account from the valley

Chandra Maurya

February 27, 2024

BJP leaders are working silently behind the curtains to make inroads and improve its tally by opening its account from the valley

Ahead of Lok Sabha polls, BJP in J&K to weigh new aspirants

If the political grapevine is to be believed the Bharatiya Janta Party is all set to introduce new faces for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls in Jammu and Kashmir to win at least three out of five seats.

The J&K Unit of BJP has already set into motion the screening process to shortlist the names of the probable candidates before the central Parliamentary board gives its nod to the final list of candidates running for the polls.

On Tuesday the top brass of the J&K Unit along with National General Secretary Tarun Chugh, also in charge of J&K affairs, co-incharge Ashish Sood are scheduled to attend a meeting of the election committee aimed at shortlisting the names of two to three candidates from all five Lok Sabha seats.

Besides proposing names of the sitting MPs the election committee is mandated to submit at least three names of probable candidates before the Parliamentary board for their final approval.

At present Jugal Kishore Sharma is a sitting MP from the Jammu-Poonch Parliamentary seat while Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh is a sitting MP from Udhampur-Doda Lok Sabha seat.

The crucial meeting of the Election Committee will be attended by former deputy Chief Ministers Prof Nirmal Singh, Kavinder Gupta, Organisation Secretary (J&K) Ashok Koul along with others at the party headquarters in Jammu. Besides finalizing the list of probable candidates, the election committee is also expected to finalize the list of star campaigners during the Lok Sabha polls.

According to insiders in the BJP, the party is keen on introducing new faces in the coming elections. The performance of both the sitting MPs and their report cards is expected to be reviewed before finalizing the names of the candidates.

Names of several aspirants are doing the rounds for the Lok Sabha seats. The Election Committee during the crucial meet is expected to do a SWOT analysis of every candidate before finalizing the list of probable candidates.

The BJP is placed comfortably on both the Lok Sabha seats of the Jammu region. The opposition parties appear in total disarray as they are yet to finalize their poll strategy or seat-sharing arrangement.

The National Conference and PDP have failed to consolidate their voter base in the region in the absence of leaders connected with the masses on ground zero. On the other hand, the faction-ridden Congress party is also not emerging as a strong opposition across the Jammu region. Veteran Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad has also managed to weaken the base of the Congress party after he launched Democratic Progressive Azad Party.
The BJP is keen on winning the newly carved Anantnag-Rajouri Poonch Lok Sabha seat, especially after granting the Scheduled Tribe status to the Pahari ethnic group with a sizable population in both the frontier districts of Rajouri and Poonch along with Anantnag.

Both the National Conference and PDP along with other stakeholders including the Congress party, Peoples Conference of Sajad Lone, Jammu and Kashmir APNI party headed by Altaf Bukhari, and DPAP of Ghulam Nabi Azad will be locked in a close contest to win the two Lok Sabha seats of Srinagar and Baramulla. BJP leaders are also working silently behind the curtains to make inroads and improve its tally by opening its account from the valley.

Note:
1. Text in Blue points to additional data on the topic.
2. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.

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