SRINAGAR: The BJP on Wednesday announced candidates for bypolls to two Assembly seats in Jammu and Kashmir. The party announced Aga Syed Mohsin as its candidate for the Budgam seat in the Valley and Devyani Rana from the Nagrota seat in Jammu.
The bypolls to two Assembly seats in J&K were necessitated after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah vacated the Budgam seat and retained the Ganderbal seat. Omar had contested from two Assembly seats in the 2024 polls and won from both the seats.
The Nagrota seat in Jammu fell vacant after the sitting BJP MLA Devender Singh Rana passed away in October last year.
Devyani is the daughter of Devender Rana and will be making her electoral debut in the bypolls.
In the 2024 Assembly polls, Omar defeated PDP’s Aga Syed Muntazir Mehdi from the Budgam seat by 18,485 votes. Omar secured 36,010 votes while PDP’s Aga Syed Muntazir got 17,525 votes.
BJP’s Devender Rana had won the Nagrota seat by securing 48,113 votes while NC’s Joginder Singh was runner-up with 17,641 votes, and Balbir Singh of Congress got 5,979 votes. The main electoral battle in the Budgam seat is likely between NC and PDP, while in Nagrota, the BJP’s Devyani Rana would likely help retain the seat for the saffron party. She will be banking on the support base of her late father and the party’s vote bank.
It remains to be seen whether NC and Congress can reach any seat-sharing understanding. The Congress has expressed its willingness to contest the seat, sparking tension in the NC-Congress alliance.
The NC would have to take a tough call whether to concede the seat to Congress or stake its own claim, given the fact that the party was runner-up in last year’s Assembly polls from the seat.
