Election 2019: Udhampur- Kathua-Doda Constituency

BY: RANBIR MANHAS PUBLISHED ON APRIL 03, 2019

Now when last date of withdrawal of nomination papers has expired no doubt has been left about the candidates and combinations contesting elections for Udhampur Lok Sabha seat. This time however, whereas BJP has repeated Dr. Jitendra Singh, Congress, Panthers Party and BSP have replaced their candidates. Another significant change is the entry of former MP Ch. Lal Singh in the fray and former PDP MLC from Kishtwar Firdous Tak deciding to contest independently.

According to the RO, former Chief Engineer Tilak Raj Bhagat, Dr. Jitendra Singh, Rajkumar Vikramaditya Singh, Harash Dev Singh and Choudhary Lal Singh are contesting on BSP, BJP, INC, NPP and newly registered Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan respectively. Seven independents are also trying their luck.

Now, let’s begin by discussing the individual background of the contesting candidates:

*Dr. Jitendra Singh: Dr. Jitendra Singh is a physician by profession. After defeating Congress giant, Ghulam Nabi Azad by a margin of 64,000 votes in 2014 the PM had rewarded the Doctor by including him in his council of ministers.

* Choudhary Lal Singh: Choudhary Lal Singh has a rich political background. His father was an acclaimed progressive leader of his time and a close associate of Sethi-Saraf comrade duo. Choudhary Lal Singh like his late father is a dynamic leader who minces no words while criticizing Kashmir discriminative hegemony over Jammu and Ladakh regions. He represented Udhampur LS constituency twice and also remained an effective cabinet minister in the State for a considerable period of time.

* Rajkumar Vikramaditya Singh: Vikramaditya Singh is a former MLC of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. He has no quality other than this that he is the grandson of Maharaja Hari Singh and son of Dr. Karan Singh who also represented this constituency thrice.

* Harash Dev Singh: Harash Dev Singh is a former Minister of PDP-Congress Coalition Cabinet. He is national president of Panthers Party. By profession he is a lawyer.

* Firdous Tak : Hailing from Kishtwar, Firdous Tak is the former PDP MLC infamous for his inflammatory communal and anti-national utterances. He is contesting as an independent candidate after his party decided to play second fiddle to Congress in Jammu region ‘to save secularism’.

*Tilak Raj Bhagat: Tilak Raj Bhagat is a retired Chief Engineer who is replacing Bihari Lal Bhagat as BSP candidate in this Lok Sabha constituency.

The Arithmetic:

As compared to nearly 14 lakh voters in 2014, this number has swelled up to 16, 75,000 in 2019. Last time BJP’s lesser Known candidate Dr. Jitendra Singh had wrested this seat by defeating Congress stalwart Ghulam Nabi Azad by a margin of 64, 000 votes. This time, Azad is not in the field and Dr. Jitendra Singh is no more a lesser known candidate. Although Azad will campaign for Vikramaditya Singh, voting for his person and voting for someone else on his recommendation are two different things. As far as Vikramaditya Singh is concerned he has nothing of his own to publicize. Even his father who represented this constituency for thirteen long years has hardly anything spectacular to his credit. In this backdrop equaling Azad’s score by Vikramaditya Singh would be like day dreaming. Had this not been enough, support extended to Congress by PDP and NC riding on anti-national and anti-Jammu slogans has considerably diminished scope of the ‘Rajkumar’ if he had any. In the given situation my guess is that he may not get even half the votes Azad got in 2014 .

Let’s assume that BSP, PP and PDP and other independent candidates get same number of votes which their respective candidates got in 2014 even then there will be no change in the final outcome of this election. The only potential factor capable of changing the complexion of these results could be Ch. Lal Singh but even he may not break much ice. “ Dogras will support him in the Assembly elections but not now knowing that Dogra Swabhiman is not bigger than Bharat Swabhiman which is under tremendous attack from anti- India element operating from within and outside India under different names and nomenclatures”, insiders claim.

Yes! PDP will add 30,000 votes to Congress that its candidate Arshad Malik got last time but that number will also be minimized by party rebel, Firdous Tak though nominally.

With other factors remaining same the contest this time will once again remain restricted between BJP and Congress and Dr. Jitendra Singh will retain this seat by defeating his nearest rival Vikramaditya Singh of Congress by a record margin. Till then let’s wait and watch!