Jammu, Mar 30: Twelve candidates in fray for Udhampur-Kathua-Doda Lok Sabha seat of Jammu and Kashmir, which is going to polls for the first phase of Lok Sabha Elections as no one withdraws nominations in the stipulated time.

As per news agency, the Returning Officer (RO) for the 4-Udhampur Parliamentary Constituency, Dr Rakesh informed that none of the candidates withdrew his papers and 12 candidates remain in fray for the seat.

Earlier, 15 candidates including BJP’s present Member Parliament and MoS Dr. Jitendra Singh and Congress party’s candidate and former MP Choudhary Lal Singh along with their covering candidates filed papers. After scrutiny, RO rejected papers of three covering candidates of BJP, Congress and BSP.

Those who remain in fray included Amit Kumar of BSP, Balwan Singh of Jammu Kashmir National Panther Party (Bhim), dr Jitendera Singh of BJO, Ch Lal Singh of Congress, Ghulam Mohammad Saroori of Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP), Manoj Kumar of Ekam Sanatan Bharat Dal, Dr Pankaj Sharma, Rajesh Manchanda, Sachin Gupta, Swarn Veer Singh, mohd ali Gujar and Mehraj Din as Independent.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Dr. Jitendra Singh won from Udhampur with a total of 724311 votes. Vikramaditya Singh, the nominee of the Indian National Congress, received 367059 votes. The Bharatiya Janata Party secured a majority of 61 percent in the polls. Similarly, in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Dr. Jitendra Singh had won from Udhampur, securing 4,87,369 votes. He defeated then Congress stalwart Ghulam Nabi Azad of Indian National Congress with a margin of  60,976 votes. Azad got 4,26,393 Votes—(KNO)