After witnessing a close fight in the Udhampur-Doda Lok Sabha seat the stage is set for another round of clash between the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and the Congress party candidate on the Jammu Reasi Lok Sabha seat in the second phase of polling on April 26.
22 candidates are in the fray and an estimated 17.80 lakh voters are eligible to vote in the constituency spread across Jammu, Samba, and Reasi and one segment of Rajouri district.
The straight contest is between the two-time sitting Member of Parliament Jugal Kishore Sharma of BJP and the working President of the J&K Congress unit Raman Bhalla.
Jagdish Raj of Bahujan Samaj Party and Advocate Ankur Sharma of Ekam Sanatan Bharat Dal are the two other prominent faces trying their luck in the poll arena.
After witnessing a healthy voter turnout in the Udhampur-Doda Lok Sabha seat, upbeat Congress workers have intensified their campaign to woo the disgruntled voters across Jammu.
The Congress party candidate Raman Bhalla, who is also contesting for the second time from the same seat, is focusing more on the unemployed youth, recruitment scams, border residents, and farmers’ community to expose the tall claims of BJP that they have transformed the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir after the Abrogation of Article 370 in the last five years.
The Congress party is consistently raising the issue of loss of statehood, removal of special status under Article 370, and the failure of the BJP to hold an assembly, panchayat, and urban local bodies elections.
On the other hand, BJP MP Jugal Kishore counters the charge by claiming the Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the centre has taken several historic initiatives with the abrogation of Article 370, thus giving acceleration to the ongoing mega projects of development.
Sharma claims the centre has ensured the restoration of peace, eradication of terrorism, ceasefire along the borders and empowerment of the deprived sections of the society. So far BJP has organized only one big rally in Jammu.
