The Jammu North assembly seat is set to witness a tough electoral battle between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the National Conference, with BJP candidate and former minister Sham Lal Sharma making last-ditch efforts to sway voters in a bid to secure a hat-trick for his party.
Undeterred by two consecutive poll losses in the Marh assembly segment, former minister and NC candidate Ajay Sadhotra is trying his luck from Jammu North, formerly Raipur Domana, in the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections.
Both candidates have shifted from their traditional constituencies — Sadhotra from Marh and Sharma from Akhnoor — after these two segments were reserved for Scheduled Castes.
The other candidates who are in the fray include Darshan Kumar Magotra of PDP, Sunita Turki of National Democratic Party, Mohit of the National Awami Unity Party, and Maheshwar Singh of DPAP.
Besides, BJP rebel and former MLA Shiv Dev Singh is also contesting from Jammu North as an independent. There are nine candidates in the fray, including a woman.
“It is a direct contest between two former ministers -- Sharma and Sadhotra, who is also the coalition candidate of NC-Congress,” Vikas Kumar, a political expert, told PTI.
“It will be tough for both. Sharma is facing a rebel candidate, while Sadhotra has to work hard to win over voters in a constituency where his party has never won,” Kumar added.
BJP's Sharma, busy with door-to-door campaigns and rallies, is banking on his pro-Jammu image.
“We will secure a victory with the full backing of the people. Our aim is to form a BJP government in Jammu and Kashmir so that Jammu gets its full rights, and development and progress reach everyone,” Sharma said.
Reiterating his commitment to following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision for peace and progress in J&K, Sharma added, “No one can stop the BJP from continuing its development journey in J&K. People should vote for the BJP to ensure the region's development.”
However, BJP's decision to field Sharma, a former Congress MLA from Akhnoor who joined the BJP in 2019, has sparked internal strife within the party.
The NC hopes to capitalize on this internal discord.
Sharma is the younger brother of two-time Congress MP Madan Lal Sharma, who won the Jammu-Poonch Lok Sabha seat in 2004 and 2009 and is considered a strong voice for the Jammu region. He served as a Congress MLA from Akhnoor and as a cabinet minister in the NC-Congress coalition government in 2008.
He lost to BJP's Rajeev Sharma in 2014 from Akhnoor when BJP secured a historic 25 seats from Jammu in the assembly elections.
According to his poll affidavit, Sharma has Rs 15.8 crore worth immovable assets and liabilities worth Rs 1.2 crore, in addition to movable assets worth Rs 1.9 crore and Rs 65,000 in cash. This is a significant jump from his Rs 10.4 crore in assets in 2014, when he contested on a Congress ticket.
The 64-year-old politician, a resident of Purkhoo Domana, has no criminal cases against him, as per the affidavit. His immovable assets include agricultural land in Pallanwala, Purkhoo, and Palwan; commercial buildings in Patta Paloura; and a residential building in Platan.
On the other hand, NC's Ajay Sadhotra, a senior politician, lost in 2008 and 2014 to the BJP.
He was elected as an MLA in 1996 and 2002, representing Marh, and has held key ministerial portfolios.
Sadhotra, supported by the Congress as the alliance candidate, said he is confident of victory as people are “fed up with BJP's anti-people policies”. He pledged to end BJP's reign, stop smart meters, provide youth employment, and ensure education for all.
Former MLA Shiv Dev Singh, who resigned from the BJP, is contesting as an independent, claiming public support pushed him to fight the election. He criticised the BJP for discriminating against him and said, “People feel they haven't had a local MLA. It's time to raise the people's voice.”
Singh dismissed his rivals, calling the NC-Congress alliance a "tactic" to confuse voters, adding, “We are fighters, and no one can stand against us.”
The Jammu North, with 75 percent of its area urban, has a total of 1,11,228 voters, including 54,274 women.
The constituency with 117 polling stations will vote in the third phase of the J&K elections on October 1.
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