All eyes on Jammu LS seat as campaigning ends

Jammu, Apr 24: The campaigning for the second phase of Parliamentary elections ended Wednesday for Jammu Lok Sabha constituency of Jammu and Kashmir thus throwing the ground open for the people to decide the fate of candidates wishing to get elected to the parliament.
A total of 22 candidates are in the fray for Jammu parliamentary constituency but there is direct fight between Bharatiya Janta Party and Congress party.
BJP has given mandate to its sitting Member Parliament (MP) Jugal Kishore Sharma whereas Congress has put the bet on its best possible candidate and former minister Raman Bhalla.
Jammu Lok Sabha seat has got a new shape after delimitation when twin districts of Rajouri and Poonch were separated from it and Reasi district, which was earlier part of Udhampur Lok Sabha constituency, was made part of it. At present Jammu seat comprises three districts, Jammu, Samba and Reasi whereas one Assembly segment of Rajouri, Sunderbani-Kalakote is also part of it.
It has a total of 1780738 electorates including 921053 male, 859657 female and 28 third gender electorates. The Jammu district comprises 18 Assembly segments including Bishnah, Suchetgarh, Ranbir singh Pura (Jammu-south), Bahu, Jammu East, Nagrota, Jammu West, Jammu North, Marh, Akhnoor and Chamb. Samba and Reasi district comprises three Assembly segments each including Ramgarh, Samba and Vijaypur, and Gulabgarh, Reasi and Shri Mata Vasihno Devi, respectively. The one of Assembly segment of Rajouri district which is part of Jammu LS seat is Kalakote-Sunderbani.
This seat witnessed two high profile events during the campaigning including the visit of union home minister Amit Shah, who held a rally in Paloura area of Jammu whereas Congress party’s star campaigner Sachin Pilot also addressed a rally in R.S. Pura-Suchetgarh area of Jammu district.
Both the parties have tried to influence the voters by campaigning at micro-level by holding corner meetings, door-to-door campaign and targeting youth and women voters.
BJP’s Jugal Kishore Sharma has in the past remained the sole torch bearer of the BJP in Legislative Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir when he, being alone, kept the government on tenterhooks. His loyalty towards the party has earned him the third consecutive mandate from the party for Jammu Lok Sabha seat.
Raman Bhalla on the other hand has the honour of keeping the Congress party alive in Jammu region, especially in Jammu city, when many top level leaders left the party and few joined BJP and some joined Congress rebel Ghulam Nabi Azad’s Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP). He has been awarded with the mandate to represent the party and defeat the BJP’s Sharma who has won twice, first in 2014 and second in 2019.
Now, all eyes will be on the April 26 polling day when people will be coming out to vote and will decide the fate of 22 candidates including two big guns. (KNO)