With Article 370 taking the centre stage, the high-voltage election campaign for the Udhampur Lok Sabha constituency of Jammu and Kashmir ended on
Wednesday.
The polling for the constituency, where BJP candidate and Union Minister in the PMO Dr Jitendra Singh is aiming to make a hat-trick, will be held in the first phase on 19 April.
After almost five years of its abrogation, Article 370 remained the main plank of BJP’s poll campaign that was led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and other leaders. Home Minister Amit Shah, who addressed an election rally in Jammu, also focused on Article 370.
This is the first parliamentary election that Jammu and Kashmir is witnessing after the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019.
The Congress has fielded Chaudhary Lal Singh, a two-time Lok Sabha member in 2004 and 2009 from Udhampur, against Dr Jitendra Singh who is representing the seat since 2014.
The BJP is fully utilising the Modi factor and highlighting achievements since the abrogation of the special status of J&K, including the apparent end of terrorism and the dawn of an era of all-round development.
Dr Jitendra Singh has a long list of achievements, spearheading development across the Udhampur constituency. The introduction of Lavender cultivation has brought prosperity to farmers who were previously marginalised. Besides, a network of roads and bridges has been established in areas that were once inaccessible. The backward area of Kishtwar is heading to become the hydro-electric power generation hub of northern India, he says.
The top BJP leaders clubbed their election campaign for the Udhampur and the Jammu Lok Sabha constituencies. BJP’s Jugal Kishore Sharma is also looking for a third consecutive win. Polling for Jammu will be held on 26 April. Congress has fielded its working president Raman Bhalla against Sharma.
The campaign of Congress has remained low profile with only the former deputy CM of Rajasthan Sachin Pilot and actor-turned-politician Raj Babbar so far seeking votes for the party candidates in Udhampur and Jammu.
The winning margin of Dr Jitendra Singh in the previous two elections has been spectacular. He won the 2019 election bagging 7.24 lakh votes with an amazing vote share of 61.38 per cent.
The recently formed DPAP by veteran leader Ghulam Nabi Azad has fielded GM Saroori as its candidate from the Udhampur seat. Azad, who the party had named its candidate for the Anantnag seat, is campaigning for Saroori and highlighting the development that J&K saw during his tenure as chief minister. Azad also lost the election in 2019 when he contested against Dr Jitendra Singh. However, Azad is now being identified by his opponents as a
proxy of the BJP.
The Congress candidate, who badly lost the 2019 Lok Sabha election at the hands of Dr Jitendra Singh, is trying to stage a comeback by playing the Dogra card. Lal Singh contested the last election on the symbol of the Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan Party that was founded by him after quitting the BJP. The Congress is focusing on the issues of restoration of statehood for J&K and unemployment. Besides, it is also criticising the BJP government for opening J&K to outside “mining mafia” and contractors.
National Conference leaders Dr Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah have campaigned for the Congress candidate in Udhampur and Jammu. Their campaign was focused mostly on local issues. The roadshows of Omar Abdullah in the Chenab Valley region were largely attended by the locals.
The caste combination of the Udhampur constituency is diverse, with a Hindu majority in the Udhampur and Kathua districts, while the Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban districts have predominantly Muslim populations. Despite this, in the previous two elections, Dr Jitendra Singh secured the majority of votes even in the Muslim-dominated areas.