Curtains down on poll campaign for close contest on Udhampur seat

BJP’s Dr Jitendra Singh, Congress’s Lal Singh lock horn for straight battle

Jammu: High-decibel campaigning for the prestigious Kathua-Udhampur-Doda parliamentary seat, which is going to polls in the first phase of Lok Sabha elections on April 19, came to an end on Wednesday evening, with the BJP’s Dr Jitendra Singh and the Congress party’s Choudhary Lal Singh locking horns in a straight fight.
On the last day of the poll campaign, the contesting candidates made a last-ditch effort in the form of road shows, public rallies and door-to-door campaigning to convince electorates to vote in their favour.
A close aide of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Dr Jitendra Singh, who is seeking a third term as Member of Parliament from the seat, chose to conclude his election campaign in the Hindu-dominated Kathua town and its suburbs while the Congress candidate preferred to woo electorates in the Chenab region, including Ramban and Doda districts.
Veteran leader and former chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad’s Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) has fielded former minister Ghulam Mohammad Saroori from the seat but the party failed to make a significant impact on the ground as the electorates in the Chenab region accused it of aligning with the BJP to divide “secular vote”.
Sources from different parts of the Chenab region told The News Now that “anti-incumbency” and “polarization” in the form of consolidation of Muslim votes in Doda, Ramban and Kishtwar are the two crucial factors that have the potential to challenge the BJP candidate Dr Jitendra Singh’s winning prospects in the area. “Given the vigorous campaign launched by Lal Singh supported by the National Conference and other small opposition groups, there are strong chances that the seat is heading for a close contest and may pose a serious challenge to the BJP’s face in PMO Dr Jitendra Singh,” sources said.
Nearly 16.23 lakh electorates will decide the fate of the candidates, including about 8.45 lakh male votes and 7.77 lakh female votes. Young voters in the 18-19 years age group stand at 84,468, and include 45,825 male voters and 38,641 female voters.
The BJP’s campaign trail saw star campaigners including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Union Minister Anurag Thakur energizing supporters and seeking votes in favour of Dr Jitendra Singh. They emphasized the BJP’s commitment to Hindutva agenda, and succeeded in the implementation of the party’s manifesto, including the construction of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, abrogation of Article 370 in J&K, and taking India to newer heights.
All the BJP leaders also focused on significant impact on J&K in terms of, what they called, “unprecedented infrastructural development” after the Centre’s decision to abrogate Article 370 and Article 35-A. “Ram Rajya has already started and the Uniform Civil Code is next,” the defence minister had announced during an election rally in Basohli.
On the other hand, Choudhary Lal Singh, who has remained Lok Sabha member from the seat for two terms and quit the BJP in 2018 to float his own party, the Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan, “to restore hurt Dogra pride”, has vociferously played the Dogra card to counter the BJP in Udhampur and Kathua districts—considered as strongholds of the saffron brigade.
Congress star campaigners like Raj Babbar and Sachin Pilot held rallies in Kathua to seek votes in favour of Lal Singh, who is quite vocal against the abrogation of Article 370.
During the campaigning, Singh shifted the focus of his campaign to “non-locals and blue-eyed” people occupying offices in Jammu and Kashmir and sought votes to fight for Article 371, and laws safeguarding land and jobs for locals.
Lal Singh had won the seat twice in 2004 and 2009 on Congress mandate, while the BJP’s Dr Jitendra Singh emerged winner from the seat for two successive elections held in 2014 and 2019. Jitendra Singh won the 2019 election by a huge margin of 3.57 lakh votes.

Updated On 4/18/2024 1:37:48 AM