Srinagar, Oct 15 (IANS) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday announced the names of its candidates for the bypolls to the two Legislative Assembly constituencies of Nagrota and Budgam in Jammu and Kashmir.

BJP spokesperson said that Devyani Rana will be the party’s candidate for the Nagrota seat in Jammu division, while Aga Syed Mohsin will fight from the Budgam seat in Kashmir.

Nagrota seat fell vacant when the sitting BJP MLA, Devender Singh Rana, passed away on October 31, 2024. He had won the 2024 Assembly election for the BJP from Nagrota.

Devyani Rana is the daughter of the late Devender Singh Rana.

Budgam seat in the Valley fell vacant when the National Conference (NC) Vice President, Omar Abdullah, won the Assembly election from two constituencies of Budgam and Ganderbal in 2024. He later resigned from the Budgam seat and retained the Ganderbal constituency in the 90-member J&K Assembly.

Except for the BJP, other political parties have yet to announce their candidates for these two Assembly seats.

The chief spokesperson of Apni Party, headed by Syed Altaf Bukhari, Mohiuddin Muntazir, has, however, announced his decision to quit Apni Party and fight elections from Budgam constituency as an Independent candidate.

The polling will be held on November 11, and the counting will take place on November 14.

In the 2024 Assembly elections, NC had won 42, BJP 29, Congress 6, PDP 3, Aam Aadmi Party 1, CPI(M) 1, Awami Ittehad Party 1, Peoples Conference 1 and 6 Independents had also won.

Six independents later joined the NC, while the Congress announced its decision to support the Omar Abdullah-led government from outside without joining it.

The Election Commission has also announced polls for the four Rajya Sabha seats from J&K. These elections are being held after more than four years, as J&K did not have a Legislative Assembly after February 2021.

The NC has nominated four candidates for these four seats, while the BJP is fielding candidates for three seats.

–IANS

sq/dpb