STATE TIMES NEWS
New Delhi: The BJP’s Central Election Committee (CEC) met on Sunday evening to finalise the party’s candidates for the upcoming assembly polls.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president J P Nadda were joined by other CEC members, including Home Minister Amit Shah, as they deliberated with party leaders from Jammu and Kashmir.
Last week, the J&K leaders had held a long meeting with Nadda and Shah, among others, to narrow down the list of probable candidates and strategise for the polls.
The CEC will later be holding meeting with Haryana leaders to finalise party candidates for the assembly polls.
The 90-member assembly of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is going to the polls in three phases on September 18 and 25 and October 1.
In Jammu and Kashmir, the total electorate stands at approximately 87.09 lakh, according to the draft roll published on July 25, 2024.
The gender distribution includes around 44.46 lakh male voters and 42.62 lakh female voters.
The draft roll also underscores the presence of a substantial young voter base, with around 3.71 lakh first-time voters aged 18-19 years and 20.7 lakh voters aged 20-29 years.
Additionally, the region records 82,590 persons with disabilities (PwDs), 2,660 centenarians, 73,943 voters aged 85 years and above, and 169 third-gender voters.
The ease of voting for Kashmiri migrants introduced during the recent Lok Sabha polls will be in place for the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls as well.
The 90-member assembly of Haryana will go to the polls on October 1.
The counting of votes is scheduled for October 4.
In the last assembly elections held in 2014, when Jammu and Kashmir was a full-fledged state, the BJP had won 25 seats.
The party is making all out efforts to fend off the challenge from a resurgent Congress, which has tied up with the National Conference, especially in the Jammu region, a BJP bastion since 2014.
The BJP is also facing a strong challenge from the Congress in Haryana where it is in power since 2014.
