The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) withdrew its initial list of 44 candidates for the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections just hours after its announcement on Monday. The party is set to amend the list and released it once again.

Earlier today, the saffron party has announced candidates for several key regions, including Anantnag, Doda, Poonch Haveli. It had pitched Adv. Syed Wazahat will contest from Anantnag, Sushri Shagun Parihar from Kishtwar, and Gajay Singh Rana from Doda. Kuldeep Raj Dubey is the party’s choice for Reasi, Rohit Dubey for Shri Mata Vaishno Devi, and Chowdhary Abdul Ghani for Poonch Haveli.

In the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections, the BJP has declared it will not form alliances with any political parties. Instead, the party plans to support prominent independent candidates in the Kashmir valley constituencies where it has decided not to field its own nominees.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced that polling in Jammu and Kashmir will take place in three phases on September 18, 25, and October 1, with vote counting set for October 4. These elections mark the first in Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370.