Amid recruitment scams and rising power bills, BJP hopes to hold on to its Jammu stronghold
The Jammu Lok Sabha constituency mainly comprises the plains and the Hindu-majority belt in Samba, Reasi and Jammu districts of Jammu and Kashmir. It is a battle of prestige for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is pitted against the INDIA bloc, with the regional parties such as the National Conference (NC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) weighing in for the Congress candidate.
The rise in the popularity of the BJP candidate, Jugal Kishore Sharma, who is seeking a third term, has matched the rising trajectory of the party since 2014 nationally. Mr. Sharma’s winning margins in the 2014 and 2019 elections are indicative of the BJP’s strong grip over the region. In 2014, he won by 2.57 lakh votes, and in 2019, 3.02 lakh. The BJP won the Jammu seat for the rst time in 1998, and since then, Mr. Sharma has managed to win it twice.
This year, the BJP galvanised support on the streets in the Hindu-majority Jammu district. Jammu is known as the ‘city of temples’, and the show of strength in the run-up to the consecration of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya countered the growing resentment in the area’s business community over the cancellation of the annual shifting of the capital from Srinagar to Jammu, known as the ‘Durbar move’, which has signicantly impacted businesses in the winter months.
Jammu has also been marred by anti-government protests in the past three years, which dented the BJP’s image. There were protests by job aspirants after at least three recruitment lists came under the scanner for reported scams. Rising electricity charges and the installation of faulty smart meters also sparked protests.
However, the BJP’s move to set up a Tirupati Balaji temple amid the scenic Shivalik forests in Majeen, Jammu, and running direct fast trains to Katra, which houses the famous Mata Vaishno Devi shrine, won back Hindu support. “We have done away with the frisking of devotees at the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine. People can fearlessly visit the temple now,” Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said at an election rally in the region recently.
BJP State president Ravinder Raina is condent of a “big victory from the Jammu division”, which has two of the total ve Lok Sabha seats in J&K. “Given the enthusiasm of voters and the turnout in Udhampur-Doda on April 19, the BJP will win the election with a huge margin on both the seats,” Mr. Raina said.
The Congress has remained the oldest national party in Jammu since 1962, sending an MP nine times since then. The party’s vote share increased in the 2019 Lok Sabha election by about 5% to 28.38%. Congress candidate Raman Bhalla hopes to expand the vote base this time with the help of coalition partners NC and PDP. Mr. Bhalla, an old hand in the party, also draws strength from the impact of the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ of Rahul Gandhi in 2022, which managed to attract crowds in Samba and Jammu districts in spite of being a BJP stronghold. The party has decided to contest the elections on the governance issues and maintained a meaningful distance from engaging in an ideological battle with the BJP during the campaigning.
“Jammu has seen a rise in drug abuse. The promised road accessibility is nowhere to be seen. The BJP promised to open a stream of money for Jammu. Why are the contractors without payment for the past three years then? The party that cannot do justice needs to be changed,” Mr. Balla said.
There are 22 candidates in the fray, but the contest remains only between the two parties. Around 17. 67 lakh voters will decide the fate of the candidates. With 18 Assembly segments, the Jammu Lok Sabha constituency has 9.15 male and 8.52 lake female voters.