Srinagar: In a major flip-flop, the Bhartiya Janata Party Monday withdrew its first list of 44 candidates just an hour after announcing it, with the party attributing the move to ‘typographical errors’.
No changes have been made in the fifteen candidates picked for the first phase.
“The previous list of (44) BJP Assembly Election 2024 candidates has been cancelled due to typographical errors. The new list will be released shortly,” said party’s State Media Co-Convenor Adv. Sajid Yousuf Shah.
Notably, three key names were missing in the now-deleted list — Jammu and Kashmir BJP president Ravinder Raina, and former Deputy Chief Ministers Nirmal Singh and Kavinder Gupta. The list had the name of Union minister Dr Jitendra Singh’s brother Devendra Rana, who switched from the National Conference.
Two Kashmiri Pandits 14 Muslim candidates were also named in the first list. Several former leaders of Congress, National Conference, PDP and Panthers Party, who switched sides and joined the BJP, also featured in the now-deleted list.
–(Agencies)
