Jammu & Kashmir Assembly Elections 2024: AAP releases first list of 7 candidates

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday announced the first list of 7 candidates for the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections. The party has fielded Fayaz Ahmed Sofi from Pulwama, Muddasir Hassan from Rajpora, and Sheikh Fida Hussain from Devsar. Mohsin Shafkat Mir has got ticket from Dooru, Mehraj Din Malik from Doda, Yasir Shafi Matto from Doda West, and Musassir Azmat Mir from Banihal. 

Pulwama: Fayaz Ahmed Sofi

Rajpora: Muddasir Hassan

Devsar: Sheikh Fida Hussain

Dooru: Mohsin Shafkat Mir

Doda: Mehraj Din Malik

Doda West: Yasir Shafi Matto

Banihal: Musassir Azmat Mir

The assembly elections in J&K will be held in three phases -  September 18, 25, and October 1. 

The Congress has allied with the Farooq Abdullah's National Conference for the assembly polls, while Mehbooba Mufti's PDP has announced its support for the alliance. The BJP, which has support base in Jammu, is going solo in the region. 

On Saturday, a Congress leader and a former police officer joined the BJP along with dozens of their supporters. J&K BJP president Ravinder Raina welcomed the new entrants at two separate functions in the party headquarters. He described the pre-poll alliance of the Congress and National Conference (NC) as an outcome of the "growing popularity" of the BJP. 

At the first function, former SSP Mohan Lal joined the BJP, a day after his application for voluntary retirement from service was accepted. Lal is likely to be given a party ticket from the Akhnoor Assembly constituency. The former SSP said he will work to ensure the party achieves its target of 50-plus seats in the elections. 

Welcoming Lal in the party fold, Raina said the continuous joining of prominent personalities like former minister Choudhary Zulfikar Ali and former MLC Murtaza Khan in the BJP has unnerved the Congress and the NC. "Farooq Abdullah (NC president) and Congress leadership have time and again said that they will fight the Assembly elections on their own strength but what forced them to come together suddenly. They are frightened by the BJP’s growing popularity and are staring at defeat,” he said.