The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday released its list of star campaigners for the second phase of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly polls, which is scheduled to be held on September 25. The list of star campaigners includes party's prominent leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. The party has also chosen Union Ministers including JP Nadda, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Nitin Gadkari, Manohar Lal Khattar and G Kishan Reddy.
Along with them, Himachal Pradesh LoP Jai Ram Thakur, Union MoS Jitendra Singh, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Rajasthan CM Bhajanlal Sharma, BJP National General Secretary Tarun Chugh, MP Anurag Thakur will also campaign for the party in the second phase of J-K polls. The list of 40 star campaigners also includes former Amethi MP Smriti Irani. Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Amit Shah will release the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) election manifesto for the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections on September 6, as per party sources.
Shah is expected to arrive in Jammu around 2 pm on Friday, where he will release the manifesto at the BJP's media centre in the city. According to party sources, on the first day of his visit, the Home Minister will meet with the core group of the state's BJP unit to review the party's election preparations and ground-level activities. On the second day, Shah will hold discussions with party leaders to ensure the success of the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir.
The first phase of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections will see 219 candidates in the fray, with voting scheduled for September 18. This will be the first assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370. The second phase will be held on September 25, and third on October 1, with the results announced on October 8. The abrogation of Article 370 led to the revocation of the state's special status and its bifurcation into two Union Territories in 2019.