Jammu, Mar 28: Jammu parliamentary constituency, for which the election notification for the upcoming LoK Sabha polls was issued on Thursday, will witness a keenly fought straight electoral battle between the traditional opponents i.e., Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress.
The constituency will go to polls during the second phase of the electoral process on April 26, 2024.
BJP has fielded its incumbent Member Parliament (MP) Jugal Kishore Sharma while Congress has also repeated its nominee i.e., former minister Raman Bhalla. The latter (as of now) is a common candidate of I.N.D.I. Alliance of which both National Conference (NC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are constituents.
“BJP candidate Jugal Kishore Sharma will file his nomination papers on March 30 and the Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Singh Thakur will accompany him,” J&K BJP chief spokesperson Sunil Sethi told Greater Kashmir.
However, Congress nominee Raman Bhalla will file his nomination paper on April 2.
Both the parties want to make even the day of nomination filing as a grand affair.
For the purpose, JKPCC president Vikar Rasool Wani during the day reviewed the preparations of the scheduled rally on April 2.
Besides working president and Congress nominee (Bhalla), the meeting was attended by all senior leaders of PCC, DCC presidents and frontal wing leaders of all three districts of Jammu rural, Samba and Reasi and representatives of 18 assembly constituencies.
The meeting discussed the arrangements to be made for the participation of people from different areas and assembly segments on the day of filing of papers.
Similarly, J&K BJP president Ravinder Raina this evening announced that Jammu city would witness an “unprecedented and historic rally of party activists, workers and supporters on the occasion of filing of nomination papers by the party candidate for Jammu-Reasi parliamentary seat Jugal Kishore Sharma on March 30.”
Raina, who chaired a meeting of Election Management Committee for Jammu-Reasi seat at LS party headquarters established at Bakshi Nagar here this evening, said, “Thousands of workers and activists will assemble at Indira Chowk and march towards the office of District Magistrate Jammu where the party candidate Jugal Kishore Sharma will file his nomination papers.”
According to the party, the activists of BJYM will accompany the party candidate from his official residence to Indira Chowk where the Member of Parliament will interact with his supporters and workers before proceeding towards the District Magistrate Office for filing his nomination papers.
The meeting was attended by former ministers Chander Prakash Ganga and Sham Choudhary, DDC chairman Bharat Bhushan and former legislators viz., Professor Garu Ram, Dr Krishan Lal Bhagat, Balwant Singh Mankotia and G L Raina, DDC vice-chairman Suraj Singh, former Mayors of Jammu Municipal Corporation, Chander Mohan Gupta and Rajinder Sharma besides others.
Raina stated that the party workers from Reasi, Katra, Samba, Vijaypur, Nagrota, Bishnah and other border areas would participate in rally to support Jugal Kishore Sharma who “worked tirelessly for the upliftment and welfare of all sections of the society during his political career spanning over a period of more than two decades.”
“The party leaders will address a mammoth rally near DPS School on March 30 after our candidate will file his papers,” Raina said.
In his address, Jugal Kishore Sharma expressed his gratitude to the party high command particularly the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union Home Minister Amit Shah for reposing their faith in him for the third time.
“I am a medium for the party but the people will vote in favour of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his pro-poor policies and development agenda being undertaken in Jammu and Kashmir to make it a paradise on earth in real sense,” Sharma said.
Both Jugal and Bhalla were pitted against each other in the 2019 electoral battle as well. Another key player Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) has not come out clear so far vis-a-vis its plans to field its nominee from this constituency.
Jugal is in the fray to reclaim this seat, straight for the third time. In 2019, he had defeated the Congress candidate Raman Bhalla with a margin of 3,02,875 votes as NC and PDP had not fielded their candidates. In 2014, Jugal had won this seat again defeating Congress candidate Madan Lal Sharma, with a victory margin of 2.57 lakh votes.
Following delimitation, Jammu parliamentary constituency comprises 18 assembly constituencies which include 11 from Jammu; three from Samba and Reasi district each and one Rajouri’s Kalakote assembly constituency. Total electors are 17.66 lakh.
Earlier during the day, the Returning Officer 5- Jammu parliamentary constituency, Sachin Kumar Vaishya, issued election notification, specifying the timeline and procedures for candidates wishing to contest in the elections.
As per the notification, nomination papers can be filed by candidates or their proposers at the Returning Officer’s office (Deputy Commissioner), Jammu or Assistant Returning Officer 76- Jammu East (Joint Commissioner (A) Jammu Municipal Corporation) at Deputy Commissioner’s office, Wazarat Road Jammu between 11 am to 3 pm on any day (other than public holiday) not later than April 4, 2024.
“The nomination forms can be obtained from the office of the Returning Officer, located at the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Jammu,” the notification mentioned.
Scrutiny of the nomination papers will take place on April 6, 2024 at 11 am at Deputy Commissioner’s Office Jammu. The candidates have the option to withdraw their candidature on April 8, 2024 until 3 pm. The polling on April 26 will be conducted from 7 am to 6 pm.
Meanwhile, on the first day of nomination for this LS constituency, two candidates filed their nomination papers.
They included BSP candidate Jagdish Raj and Charanjeet Chargotra (a covering candidate from the same party), who filed their nomination papers in the office of Returning Officer.