Campaigning gathers pace as parties shift focus to Jammu Lok Sabha seat

Arjun Sharma

Jammu, April 21

After the Udhampur Lok Sabha constituency went to polls on April 19, the focus of all political parties has now shifted to the Jammu seat, where elections will be held on April 26, where the two main contenders are BJP’s Jugal Kishore Sharma — who is eyeing a hat-trick — and Congress’s Raman Bhalla.

The Udhampur seat saw a contest of heavyweights, including Union Minister and BJP candidate Jitendra Singh, and Congress’s Choudhary Lal Singh. Now, campaigning for the Jammu constituency has gathered momentum during the past two days.

The seat in the Hindu majority belt, which includes areas of Samba, Jammu, Reasi and some parts of Rajouri, has been consecutively won by the BJP in 2014 and 2019. Jugal Kishore Sharma had received over 8.50 lakh votes in 2019 while Raman Bhalla got over 5.50 lakh votes.

However, winning the polls will not be a cake walk for the saffron party this time due to various factors, including rising unemployment in Jammu and protests by different sections against the J&K administration. Protests were held against rising electricity bills in Jammu after the installation of smart meters in the past.

There are a total of 17,80,738 voters, including 9,21,053 men and 8,59,657 women, in the constituency. The Congress has been raising the issue of inflation and unemployment against the BJP-led Centre.

At a rally, J&K Congress chief Vikar Rasool Wani claimed that BJP’s days in power were numbered. He said: “The fear of losing power has compelled the BJP to delay Assembly elections and indefinitely defer elections to urban local bodies and panchayats. In these Lok Sabha polls, the BJP will be voted out in J&K.”

Wani expressed concern over the “extremely volatile” situation in J&K, describing it as a fallout of “wrong” policies adopted by the J&K administration and the Centre.

On the other hand, BJP’s Jugal Kishore Sharma termed the 10 years of Modi-led government as an era of “real” development. He added that nepotism and corruption had been the hallmark of the periods when the Congress was in power at the Centre and in states.

Sharma said more than 80 crore citizens in the country were receiving free ration every month, over 34 crore were covered under free health insurance and four crore farmers were protected with “fasal bima” (crop insurance).

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