As discontent over ticket allocations for the upcoming Assembly elections persists within the BJP’s Jammu and Kashmir unit, party president J.P. Nadda has appointed former minister Sat Sharma as the working president of the J&K unit. Additionally, former deputy chief ministers Nirmal Singh and Kavinder Gupta have been named as chairpersons of the BJP’s J&K election campaign committee and state election management committee, respectively.

All three leaders—Sharma, Singh, and Gupta—have been excluded from the party’s list of candidates for the Assembly elections. Sharma and Singh, who were elected as BJP MLAs in 2014 from Jammu West and Billawar constituencies, have been replaced by Arvind Gupta and Satish Sharma, respectively. Gupta, the former MLA from Gandhi Nagar, was not nominated for any of the new constituencies created after the 2022 delimitation.

In the newly formed Bahu and RS Pura Jammu South constituencies, the BJP has fielded Vikram Randhawa and Prof. Narinder Singh Raina, respectively. Choudhary Sukhnandan has been appointed vice-chairperson of the J&K poll campaign committee, though he was reportedly displeased with the party’s decision to nominate Surinder Bhagat from the Marh seat instead of his preferred candidate.

Further unrest is brewing within the party, with J&K general secretary Pawan Khajuria threatening to run as an Independent from Udhampur East after being overlooked in favor of R.S. Pathania. Khajuria’s supporters have given the BJP high command an ultimatum to change its decision by Wednesday noon or face his independent candidacy.

Other recent resignations from the party include Chander Mohan Sharma, who left in protest over ticket allocations, and Samba district president Kashmir Singh, who resigned after the party nominated ex-minister Surjit Singh Slathia for the Samba seat.