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| Former CM's charisma likely to help Cong | | Azad’s candidature worries BJP | | Kunal Shrivatsa
JAMMU, Mar 20: The contest for the crucial Udhampur-Doda Parliamentary constituency between the two arch rivals- Congress and Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) has taken a new twist after the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz yesterday formally announced that Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad will be the party candidate for the seat. The sudden emergence of Azad's name as a Congress candidate for Udhampur-Doda has left the BJP rank and file worried because the person of Azad could do wonders for his beleaguered party not only in Udhampur-Doda-Kathua belt but he could also influence the voters in Jammu-Poonch Lok Sabha seat.
Though the Congress High Command has not yet officially named Ghulam Nabi Azad as its nominee for Udhampur-Doda seat but after PCC president Soz made it public, it is now a foregone conclusion that the party will ultimately turn towards its most trusted lieutenant to stop the BJP juggernaut in Jammu region.
Even Azad's bitter critics and opponents hold him in high esteem and candidly admit that he is a 'master strategist' and has acted as a real trouble shooter for his party on several occasions in the past.
If the Azad factor is not enough, the BJP also has to tackle the combined strength of Congress and National Conference which is incumbent in 10 out of 17 Assembly constituencies falling in Udhampur-Doda Lok Sabha constituency which could also play a vital role in the final outcome of the results as far as this seat is concerned.
It may be recalled that in the last Lok Sabha election held in 2009, the same alliance (Cong-NC) came to the rescue of Congress candidate Lal Singh, who at that point of time was battling anti-incumbency as well as the BJP, which was riding high on the wave of Amarnath land agitation.
The Congress candidate Lal Singh polled 2,31,853 while his nearest rival from BJP Dr Nirmal Singh got as many as 2,18,459 votes. The Congress emerged victorious albeit with a narrow margin of 13,394 votes which was made possible largely because of the alliance between Congress-NC.
If the Assembly elections of 2008 are to be taken into consideration when the Congress and NC contested separately, the Congress almost won fifty percent of the assembly seats falling in this Lok Sabha segment.
Congress won 8 assembly seats including Inderwal, Doda, Bhaderwah, Ramban, Banihal, Gool Arnas, Chenani and Billawar while the NC emerged victorious in two constituencies of Kishtwar and Gulabgarh.
BJP won four seats of Hiranagar, Bani, Basohli and Reasi while two seats of Udhampur and Ramnagar were bagged by Jammu Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) and one seat of Kathua was clinched by an independent.
In the 17 assembly constituencies during 2008, the total electors' strength was 13, 38, 133 out of which as many as 9, 31, 374 voters cast the votes.
Congress amassed 2,43,106 votes (26.10 percent of the total votes polled), the BJP polled 1,94,314 votes (20.80 percent of the total votes polled) while the NC could muster 1,55,472 votes (16.69 percent of the total votes polled) in the 17 Assembly constituencies. |
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