BJP, Congress move towards hills; Ramban the first stop

Jammu, Mar 24: The election campaign for Udhampur-Doda Lok Sabha seat has taken pace and the two main contesting candidates Dr. Jitendra Singh and Choudhary Lal Singh have started moving out of plains towards hills.

As the BJP candidates and MoS in PMO Dr. Jitendra Singh will be in Ramban today to address series of rallies, Choudhary Lal Singh will be heading towards this hilly district tomorrow.

According to news agency, after completing tour of Ramban district, JItendra Singh will be in Kishtwar tomorrow, where BJP has managed to intrude in all the three Assembly segments. All eyes would be on Chenab valley, comprising Ramban, Doda and Kishtwar districts, where traditionally Congress has enjoyed edge over other parties but this time with the entry of Ghulam Nabi Azad’s Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP), things could go anyway.

As the Ramban district is the first target of both BJP and Congress party, the Holi holiday will be having different colours and people will be more concerned about political colours than Gulal (traditional Holi Colour). Both the national parties will be trying to get people on their side and get maximum votes in their favour.

Ramban district is the entry to Chenab valley and has more than 2.19 lakh votes. Traditionally the district has remained the bastion of Congress party as its candidates have been able to fetch more votes than its rivals in past elections. The same trend was witnessed in previous two elections when Congress party candidate was able to get more votes than BJP.

Even during 2019 Lok Sabha elections, when BJP won handsomely and Jitendra Singh had a cake walk, Ramban district gave lead to Congress party candidate Vikramaditya Singh. Congress party had got 60478 votes from two Assembly segments of Ramban district whereas BJP had got 45513 votes.

This time, few areas of Gool-Arnas Assembly segment of Reasi district have be some part of Banihal Assembly segment and these have also remained traditionally Congress party’s votes—(KNO)