The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday announced candidates for the upcoming Assembly by-elections in Jammu and Kashmir, naming Aga Syed Mohsin for Budgam and Devyani Rana for Nagrota constituencies.

According to an official release issued from the party headquarters in New Delhi, the names were approved by the BJP’s Central Election Committee.
Aga Syed Mohsin, the former BJP district president for Budgam, will contest from the Budgam seat in central Kashmir while Devyani Rana, daughter of late BJP MLA Devender Singh Rana, has been fielded from Nagrota in Jammu.
In the last year's Assembly election, BJP had not contested Budgam seat.
The by-elections for the Budgam and Nagrota are scheduled to be held on November 11.
The Budgam seat had fallen vacant after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah vacated Budgam seat to retain his family bastion in Ganderbal. The Nagrota seat in Jammu fell vacant after the death of sitting BJP MLA Devender Singh Rana in October last year.
Omar had won the Budgam Assembly seat with 35,804 votes, defeating PDP’s Aga Syed Muntazir Mehdi, who secured 17,445 votes.
In Nagrota Devender Rana had won the seat by a margin of 30,472 votes over NC’s Joginder Singh, with NC and Congress sharing a friendly contest.
Observers say the bypolls in J&K are expected to serve as a barometer of public sentiment since the government’s formation last year.
Budgam will test NC’s post-election strength, while Nagrota will gauge the BJP’s continued influence in the Jammu belt.