Srinagar, Aug 26 (IANS): Hours after issuing a list of 44 candidates for the J&K Assembly polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) withdrew it and released a new one with only 15 candidates for the first phase.

The fresh list of 15 candidates issued by the party has the same names as were in the earlier one, but the other two lists for the second and third phases have been withdrawn.

Interestingly, the first list of 44 candidates did not include senior leaders of the party, including the president of the J&K unit, Ravinder Raina and two former Chief Ministers, Kavinder Gupta and Nirmal Singh.

BJP sources said immediately after the list was made public there was a backlash from the J&K BJP leaders over the non-inclusion of the party’s senior leaders and also those promised party candidature for the Assembly polls in the UT.

“Some people who had recently joined the party had also figured in the first list and their inclusion at the cost of the party’s long-time loyalists created a sort of flutter in the party,” said sources.

The BJP has fielded seven candidates from Kashmir for the first phase and eight from the Jammu division for the 24 Assembly seats going to polls in the first phase.

These include Er Syed Showkat Gayoor Andrabi for Pampore seat, Arshid Bhat for Rajpora, Javed Ahmad Qadri for Shopian, Mohd Rafiq Wani for Anantnag West, advocate Syed Wazahat for Anantnag, Sofi Yousuf for Srigufwara-Bijbehara and Veer Saraf for Shangus-Anantnag East.

In the Jammu division, the candidates are Tariq Keen for Inderwal, Sushri Shagun Parihar for Kishtwar, Sunil Sharma for Padder-Nagseni, Daleep Singh Parihar for Bhaderwah, Gajay Singh Rana for Doda, Shakti Raj Parihar for Doda West, Rakesh Thakur for Ramban and Saleem Bhat for Banihal.

Voting for the first phase of the 3-phased Assembly election is being held on September 18, for the second phase on September 25 and for the last phase on October 1.

Counting of votes will take place on October 4 and the entire poll process will end on October 6.