J&K Assembly polls: BJP leaders brace for major shake-upin candidature

Chunk erstwhile former ministers, MLAs likely to face guillotine, pave way for new faces

JAMMU: In the run up to assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir, the Bharatiya Janata Party is allegedly in a fix over ticket allotment for 45 constituency assembly seats in Jammu, leave alone the Kashmir seats, a win on even one still seems a remote possibility .
The grapevine close to the political corridors in BJP office hints at repetition of just 4-5 erstwhile MLAs retaining their tickets to new contest. “All other former ministers, MLAs of BJP in the last government would face the guillotine,” said the sources.
It is in place to mention that in the last government formation of BJP with its ally Peoples Democratic Party , the former had won 25 seats from Jammu division out of 37 contested riding the then Modi wave in 2014 assembly elections
Among the last time winners, Shakti Parihar , Jeevan Lal , Pawan Gupta , Sunil Sharma and BJP president Ravinder Raina are the names that may find themselves in the repetition list with new incumbents getting a first time chance.
Pawan Gupta, who having denied BJP ticket in 2014 had fought independently from Udhampur and won the seat is likely to be the candidate choice of BJP this time round.
The old stalwarts from different parties having joined BJP over the period of time may also find the berth secured in their respective constituencies. Devender Singh Rana , Sham Lal Sharma and Surjit Singh Slathia are prospective candidates from their respective constituencies.
The all important three seats of Jammu from where Sat Sharma, Kavinder Gupta and Lt Rajesh Gupta were the last winners may get new faces like Munish Sharma , Priya Sethi and Vikram Randhawa contesting from Jammu West , Jammu East and Gandhinagar while the newly carved South Gandhinagar remaining an open challenge.
There are a total 119 (90 seats + 24 seats reserved for Pakistan-administered Kashmir) + 5 nominated in Jammu and Kashmir. Prior to 2019, the State of Jammu and Kashmir had a bicameral legislature with a legislative assembly (lower house) and a legislative council (upper house).
The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, passed by the Parliament of India in August 2019, replaced this with a unicameral legislature while also re-organising the state into a union territory. In the newly carved UT of Jammu and Kashmir, Jammu gets its constituency numbers swelled to 6 more with few mergers and BJP claiming to win 40 seats to make a government of its own .
Given the factual figures after general elections with BJP in centre claiming ‘abkibaar 400 paar’ , but rounding up at 240 only to make the NDA government , does Jammu and Kashmir BJP be able to near the 40+ mark is a long way to watch, say political analysts .

Updated On 8/1/2024 2:55:12 AM