New Delhi, Aug 20: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday appointed Ram Madhav and G Kishen Reddy as election-in-charge for the upcoming elections in Jammu and Kashmir.
Madhav, who served as the national general secretary of the BJP during 2014-20, was responsible for handling the political affairs of Jammu and Kashmir. He was also given key roles in Assam and other northeastern states.
G Kishan Reddy, the Secunderabad MP and the current minister of coal and mines, will also help Ram Madhav in planning and preparation for the elections, the first to be held in the Union Territories since 2014 and also the first after the 2019 abrogation of Article 370, which ended the erstwhile state’s special status.
“Under the leadership of BJP National President and Union Minister JP Nadda, the names of the candidates will be finalized. It will be announced this week. The state election committee will recommend the names and then we will recommend a panel from that. The final decision will be made by the national election committee,” G Kishen Reddy said.
The notification for the first phase of the three-phased polls was issued earlier on Tuesday. The voting for the first phase will take place on September 18, the second phase on September 25, and the third and final phase on October 1.
Jammu and Kashmir has a total of 90 Assembly constituencies, with 74 designated as general, 9 reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST), and 7 for Scheduled Castes (SC). The region has 87.09 lakh registered voters, including 44.46 lakh male and 42.62 lakh female electors, the Election Commission said earlier last week.
