J&K Assembly Polls: In a bid to boost the Bharatiya Janata Party's campaign for the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to hold a mega rally in Srinagar on September 19. His visit will take place a day after the first phase of polls in the J&K.


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Speaking on the Prime Minister's visit, the BJP's Media in charge, Advocate Sajid Yousuf said, "PM Modi will be visiting Kashmir to address a rally of BJP workers at SK Park Srinagar on September 19, a day after the first phase of Assembly polls". According to the saffron party sources, the rally will boost the confidence of party candidates who are in fray and workers for the second phase of polls, which are scheduled to be held on September 25.


According to a BJP spokesperson, around 30,000 party workers are expected to attend the rally. "Senior BJP Leader Mohammad Anwar Khan has been designated as the in-charge for the rally," the spokesperson said. Polling will be held in three phases on September 18, September 25, and October 1, while the counting of the votes will be undertaken on October 8.


Meanwhile, the vice president of the BJP's Jammu and Kashmir unit, Pawan Khajuria, filed his nomination papers as an independent candidate from the Udhampur East assembly segment on Wednesday.


Khajuria submitted his nomination papers at the end of his two-day ultimatum to the party leadership to change the official candidate and former MLA R S Pathania from the constituency.


“I have served the party for 35 years and preferred it over everything else. The workers got dejected after the party decided to give the mandate to a person who indulged in anti-party activities, so I responded to the call of the workers and jumped into the fray,” Khajuria said.


He expressed confidence of bagging the seat with the blessings of his supporters. “We have surrendered before the party, but it carried out a political murder. The blessings of the people are with me, and I am reborn today,” he said.


Khajuria filed nomination papers a day after another senior party leader, Chander Mohan Sharma, submitted his papers as an independent candidate from the Jammu East constituency after the ticket was given to Yudhvir Sethi. Two saffron party rebel candidates have already entered the fray from the Ramban and Padder-Nagseni constituencies in Chenab Valley.