Early Times Report
Jammu, June 7: Failure of the senior Congress leaders to perform in their respective constituencies proved costly for the party in the just concluded Lok Sabha election on the Jammu-Reasi Lok Sabha seat. While second-rung leaders worked with dedication and commitment to increase the party’s vote on the Jammu-Reasi Lok Sabha seat, senior leaders failed to enhance the party’s vote in their constituencies.
Congress received setbacks in Chhamb, Akhnoor, and Jammu North where the party was expecting to control BJP to take a huge lead. While party workers effectively checked BJP in Bishnah, Samba, Ramgarh, and Vijaypur assembly segments, the party failed to control BJP in Chhamb, Akhnoor, and Jammu North where many stalwarts of the party are staking their claims.
From the Chhamb Assembly segment, BJP candidate Jugal Kishore Sharma secured 46662 votes while Congress’s Raman Bhalla got 29550 votes.
Important to mention here that the Chhamb assembly segment was represented by a senior Congress leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand thrice.
Tara Chand remained MLA on the Chhamb assembly segment in three successive terms in 1996, 2002, and 2008. He was Speaker as well as Deputy Chief Minister in the erstwhile state of J&K.
On the Jammu North Assembly segment, where over half a dozen senior Congress leaders are staking their claims, the lead of the BJP is maximum on this segment.
Among all the 18 assembly se Congress received setbacks in Chhamb, Akhnoor, and Jammu North where the party was expecting to control the BJP to take a huge lead.
From the Chhamb Assembly segment, BJP candidate Jugal Kishore Sharma secured 46662 votes while Congress’s Raman Bhalla got 29550 votes.
The Chhamb assembly segment was represented by a senior Congress leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand thrice.
Jammu-North which was earlier called the Raipur-Domana segment was represented by another party stalwart and former Minister Mula Ram.
Notable Jammu-North which was earlier called the Raipur-Domana segment was represented by another party stalwart and former Minister Mula Ram.
As reported earlier, for the first time since 2009, the Congress has made significant gains in three Hindu-majority assembly segments in the Jammu region, traditionally strongholds of the BJP.
Despite losing the seat by a margin of 1,35,498 votes, Raman Bhalla of the Congress broke the BJP's winning streak in Hindu-dominated assembly segments. He led in RS Pura-Jammu South and Suchetgarh assembly segments.
In RS Pura-Jammu South, Bhalla received 44,162 votes, while Jugal Kishore Sharma secured 37,798 votes. Similarly, in the Suchetgarh assembly segment, Bhalla received 42,248 votes compared to Sharma's 37,442 votes.
Notably, Suchetgarh is a BJP stronghold where the party has historically never lost, except in 2002.
Bhalla also performed well in urban constituencies like Bahu, comprising localities of Gandhi Nagar, Trikuta Nagar, Channi Himmat, etc. He secured almost equal votes to Sharma in this area.
The competition was tough in the Ramgarh (reserved) constituency, where Sharma received 32,557 votes compared to Bhalla's 30,929 votes.
In the Samba assembly segment, another BJP stronghold, Sharma's lead decreased from 39,421 in 2019 to 15,114 this time. |
