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As Jammu and Kashmir braces for assembly polls after 10 years, BJP candidate from Rajouri Assembly seat, Vibodh Gupta is optimistic about winning the seat and described a potential victory as "historic moment" for the party.
Vibodh Gupta said, "It will be a historic moment after 1947 when the BJP will win Rajouri Vidhan Sabha seat." Rajouri Assembly seat has always seen a close contest between the National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Qamar Hussain won in 2014 from PDP, while in 2008 Shabbir Ahmed Khan won from NC. Gupta criticised the National Conference, accusing them of disapproving the flourishing tourism industry and youth embracing the national flag. He appreciated the BJP leadership for selecting him as their candidate. He said, "I am grateful to the top leadership of BJP for choosing me as their candidate from the Rajouri Assembly seat. The people of Rajouri have always given their love to me. This is not a normal election. If we look at the manifesto of the National Conference, we can see that they want to bring back Article 370, Article 35A, another flag, constitution and unrest. They will release all the accused of terrorism who are their supporters. I want to tell them that after August 5, 2019, separatism, and stone pelting have ended in Kashmir." Earlier, the BJP released its fourth list of candidates for the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections and fielded party unit chief Ravinder Raina from the Nowshera constituency. The BJP has fielded Ravinder Raina from the Nowshera seat, Arif Raja from the Eidgah seat, Er. Aijaz Hussain from the Lal Chowk seat, Dr Ali Mohammad Mir from the Khansahib seat, Zahid Hussain from the Chrar-i-Sharif seat and Vibodh Gupta from the Rajouri (ST) seat. On August 27, the BJP issued its third list of 29 candidates for the second and third phases of the upcoming Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. The party fielded Murtaza Khan from Mendhar, Sunil Bhardwaj from Ramnagar (SC), Chowdhary Abdul Ghani from Poonch Haveli, Pawan Gupta from Udhampur West, Mohd Iqbal Malik from Thannamandi, and Baldev Raj Sharma from Shri Mata Vaishno Devi, among others. This comes after the party released the first two lists of 16 candidates on August 26. Jammu and Kashmir has 90 assembly constituencies, with 7 seats reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and 9 for Scheduled Tribes (STs). As per the Election Commission of India, Jammu and Kashmir has 88.06 lakh eligible electors. In the previous Assembly elections, the People's Democratic Party (PDP) won 28 seats, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured 25, the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (NC) won 15, and the Congress won 12. (ANI)
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