Jammu, Apr 17: After witnessing a kind of political blitzkrieg, electioneering Wednesday ended in Udhampur-Kathua-Doda parliamentary constituency, going to polls in the first phase on April 19.
Though officially speaking over 16.23 lakh voters will decide the fate of 12 candidates, who are in fray.
They included BJP candidate Dr Jitendra Singh; Congress candidate Chowdhary Lal Singh; Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) candidate G M Saroori, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate Amit Kumar; Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP)-Bhim candidate Balwan Singh; Ekam Sanatan Bharat Dal candidate Manoj Kumar; independent candidates Dr Pankaj Sharma, Rajesh Manchanda, Sachin Gupta, Swaran Veer Singh Jaral, Mohammad Ali Gujjar and Mehraj Din.
However, for political analysts, the constituency is all set to witness a keenly fought triangular contest.
The presence of Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP’s) candidate and former minister G M Saroori has turned a straight contest between two traditional rivals i.e., Congress and BJP, into a triangular one and added a zing to it.
Stakes are high for both Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress, and particularly for the former as its incumbent Member Parliament and Union Minister of State in PMO Dr Jitendra Singh is reclaiming the seat for the third time.
Contest is not going to be a cake-walk. This could be gauged with the simple fact that BJP’s top-most campaigner Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the campaign to give it a trail-blazing effect. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath; Defence Minister Rajnath Singh; Union Minister for Information Anurag Singh Thakur and former minister Shahnawaz Hussain were among party’s other big-wigs, who too canvassed for BJP candidate.
For the Congress candidate and former minister Chowdhary Lal Singh, Rajasthan’s former Deputy Chief Minister and one among star campaigners Sachin Pilot; actor-turned-politician Raj Babbar and Imran Pratapgarhi sought votes.
Though Gandhis could not join the campaign yet as part of I.N.D.I.Alliance, National Conference’s president Dr Farooq Abdullah and vice-president Omar Abdullah – both former Chief Ministers also used their crowd-pulling charm to campaign for Congress candidate.
Saroori solely relied on the star-appeal of his party supremo and the former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who pro-actively campaigned for his nominee.
All the candidates in the fray during campaigning focussed on pros and cons of Article 370 abrogation. While BJP enumerated its benefits, its opponents accused it of depriving J&K of its identity, statehood and its citizens of their exclusive rights to jobs and lands.
Both BJP and Congress candidates have won it (Udhampur LS seat) twice and that too for consecutive (two) terms. Lal Singh, as Congress candidate, bagged it in 2004 and 2009 while Dr Jitendra as BJP candidate clinched it from Congress in 2014 and 2019.
In 2014 and 2019 also, Lal Singh was in the electoral fray from this constituency yet as an independent. Dr Jitendra, in 2014, had defeated the former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, a Congress candidate, in Udhampur constituency, with a margin of 62,000 votes.
In 2019, he (Dr Jitendra) again annexed Udhampur LS seat by defeating his nearest rival Congress candidate Vikramaditya Singh by a margin of 3.57 lakh votes.
In 2014, Lal Singh had left Congress in protest against the party’s decision to give nomination to Azad. He contested as an independent yet got defeated. Later he joined BJP. After leaving BJP (following a short stint there), in 2019, he (Lal Singh) contested from both Jammu and Udhampur LS seats. He lost from both the places and also forfeited his security deposits.
The Udhampur parliamentary constituency consists of 18 assembly segments spanning across five districts including Kishtwar, Doda, Ramban, Udhampur and Kathua.
As per official statistics, encompassing an expansive area of 16,707 square kilometres, the constituency boasts of a diverse electorate comprising 16,23,195 eligible voters. Among them are 845,283 male voters, 777,899 female voters and 13 third gender voters, reflecting the inclusivity of democratic process.
In Kishtwar district, with three assembly segments namely Inderwal, Kishtwar and Padder Nagseni, a total of 175,897 electors, including 90256 male and 85641 female, are poised to exercise their right to franchise.
Doda district, also with three assembly segments namely Bhaderwah, Doda and Doda West, contributes 305,093 voters to the electoral roll comprising 157375 male, 147711 female and 7 third gender electors.
Ramban district, encompassing two assembly segments namely Ramban and Banihal, has 219,124 registered electors, including 113814 male and 105310 female electors.
Udhampur district, comprising four assembly segments namely Udhampur West, Udhampur East, Chenani and Ramnagar, boasts 419,854 electors which included 219890 male and 199964 female electors.
Kathua district, with six assembly segments of Bani, Billawar, Basohli, Jasrota, Kathua and Hiranagar will see a robust participation of 503,227 registered voters comprising 263948 male, 239273 female and 6 third gender electors.
To facilitate seamless voting, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has set up 2,637 polling stations across the constituency, including 405 in Kishtwar, 529 in Doda, 348 in
Ramban, 654 in Udhampur and 701 in Kathua district.
In line with the commitment towards fair and transparent elections, the ECI has deployed 3,658 ballot units, 3,570 control units, and 3,636 VVPATs (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) to ensure the accuracy and integrity of the electoral process.
Moreover, 1472 polling stations will be equipped with webcasting facilities to further enhance transparency in the democratic process.