Amir Tantray
Jammu, Mar 22: Since the Congress party has been able to get a best possible candidate by roping in Choudhary Lal Singh against BJP’s Dr. Jitendra Singh, a fierce battle is expected between these two Rajputs from Udhampur-Doda Lok Sabha constituency.
With Lal Singh’s entry, it will not be a cake walk for Jitendra Singh from this seat which he enjoyed during 2019 general elections.
Dr. Jitendra Singh is a two-time and incumbent MP from this seat and was a giant killer in 2014 elections when he had defeated Congress stalwart Ghulam Nabi Azad with a margin of around 60000 votes. With this achievement, he was able to get a place in council of ministers of Narendra Modi government in first term and continued to enjoy the same treatment after winning the seat during 2019 elections.
Originally hailing from Malohri area of district Doda, Jitendra Singh’s political journey took a jump after 2008 Amarnath land row when he emerged as a strong face of the agitation and played the most important role of making people aware about the purpose of agitation. Being a strong communicator, Jitendra Singh never looked back and enjoyed great support from party leaders, both at the centre and in the state.
Currently he is relying on the work done by the Modi government in his constituency and is hoping that people will keep faith in him and leadership of Prime Minister Modi.
On the other hand, Choudhary Lal Singh, a former Congressman who had left the party in 2014 after Ghulam Nabi Azad was preferred over him to contest the Lok Sabha elections, had joined BJP in August 2014 and had contested successfully the Assembly elections in the same year. He is a two-time MP from Udhampur-Doda seat, which he won in 2004, by defeating BJP stalwart Chaman Lal Gupta, and in 2009. He has served as minister for health and minister for forests in Jammu and Kashmir in the past and people loved his style of work.
After distancing himself from BJP when he went against the party in demanding CBI inquiry into Rasana rape and murder case of a nomad girl, Choudhary Lal Singh formed his own party Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan and contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections but faced huge defeat. He was nowhere close to BJP candidate Dr. Jitendra Singh and Congress candidate Vikramaditya Singh. He was able to get only 19049 votes whereas Jitendra Singh had got over seven lakh votes.
But this time, with the efforts of Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) President Vikar Rasool Wani and others, he has joined back the grand-old party and is contesting the Lok Sabha elections.
With Lal Singh’s entry as Congress party candidate, the battle on this high profile seat is expected to be a fierce one.
There are other aspects as well in this contest as Ghulam Nabi Azad, who formed his own party Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) after leaving Congress party, had fielded three-time MLA Ghulam Muhammad Saroori from this seat. Saroori being a native from Kishtwar district, enjoys a good image within his community and being a former Congressman, whatever votes he will be able to fetch will make a dent to Congress party. His party has already announced that they are fighting against INDIA alliance.
After delimitation Reasi district is no more part of this constituency and votes have also decreased this time. During the 2019 elections, the total number of votes of this constituency was over 16.65 lakh whereas this time votes stand at 1622599. The constituency is spread in five districts, Kishtwar, Doda, Ramban, Udhampur and Kathua, with its headquarters at Kathua. The total number of votes in Kishtwra district is 175844, Doda district has 304866, Ramban has 219106, Udhampur has 419789 and Kathua has 502994. (Data courtesy: Chief Electoral Officer J&K).
