The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday named eleven Muslim candidates for the 47 seats in the Kashmir Valley.

Candidates were declared for 32 of the 36 seats in Jammu and two of the four seats in Ladakh for the 87-member Jammu and Kashmir Assembly.

The State goes to the polls in five phases from November 25.

The party also declared candidates for 63 seats in Jharkhand. To emphasise its focus on youth and women, the party has selected 35 candidates below 45 years of age and has given tickets to six women.

In Jammu and Kashmir, the BJP is close to a tie-up with People’s Conference led by Sajjad Gani Lone, who contested 2008 polls, and has influence over five seats in North Kashmir. General secretaries J.P. Nadda and Ram Madhav are in touch with Mr. Lone.

In 2008, the BJP won 11 seats and three of six in this year’s Lok Sabha election.

Announcing the candidate list, Mr. Nadda said the party considered candidates from all sections of society for both the States.

The lone woman candidate in Kashmir is Hina Bhat, who will contest from Amirakadal. Hakim Masood has been fielded from Hazratbal while Sofi Yousaf will contest from Pahalgam.

In Jharkhand, the former Chief Minister, Arjun Munda, has been fielded from Kharsawan, a ST-reserved seat, while national vice-president Raghuvar Das will contest from Jamshedpur East.

A woman candidate, Luis Marandi, will contest from Dumka, the home turf of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief Sibu Soren. Satyanand Jha, a former Minister, will contest from Nala while four-time MLA and the former Speaker, C.P. Singh, will contest from Ranchi.

Although the BJP’s tie-up with Sudesh Mahato’s All-Jharkhand Students Union is not finalised yet, sources said the party had not declared candidates from some of the seats where Mr. Mahato wields influence. The party may also share a couple of seats with the Lok Janshakti Party.

The Central Election Commission, chaired by BJP president Amit Shah, also considered the names for three Lok Sabha seats in Delhi on which by-elections will be held but declared no names.

Delhi State President Satish Upadhaya and State ‘prabhari’ Prabhat Jha were also present at the meeting, attended among others by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.