Udhampur heads for a keen race as Congress candidate unites ranks, taps into Article 370 doubts

After 15 years, the Udhampur Lok Sabha seat in Jammu and Kashmir is headed for a keen contest, with prominent leaders in the fray from the BJP and Congress.

Both Jitendra Singh of the BJP, a Union Minister of State, and Choudhary Lal Singh of the Congress are two-time MPs from the seat. While Jitendra Singh has won the seat the past two times (2014 and 2019) by big margins, it was won twice previously by Lal Singh (2004 and 2009).

Lal Singh, who last won Udhampur in 2009 against the BJP’s Nirmal Kumar Singh by 13,394 votes, was not in the race in 2014 and 2019. The Congress 2014 candidate, former CM Ghulam Nabi Azad, lost to Jitendra Singh by over 60,000 votes, and its 2019 mominee Vikramaditya Singh, a scion of the erstwhile J&K royal family by 3.57-plus lakh votes.

Neither Azad nor Vikramaditya is with the Congress now.

Spread over 16 Assembly segments across the five districts of Kathua, Udhampur, Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban in the Jammu province, the Udhampur Lok Sabha seat, which votes in the first phase on April 19. has an over 16.23 lakh electorate, with a sizeable 30-35% of the population Muslim.

There are a total 12 candidates in the fray, including G M Saroori of Azad’s Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP). Saroori is a former J&K minister and three-time MLA.

While the DPAP’s presence may cut into Congress votes, it will gain from the backing of its INDIA allies National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party.

Going by the presence of crowds at their rallies, the Congress and BJP seem evenly matched. Lal Singh is being received with slogans of “Babbar Sher Aya, Babar Sher Aya (the lion has come)”, even as Jitendra Singh’s star remains high as a two-time Union MoS, whose portfolios include the high-visibility PMO.

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