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| Failed Assembly aspirants strong runners for Udhampur LS seat | | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
Jammu, Apr 20- Failure is never the end of the road, but only the beginning of something potentially better! This maxim qualifies in Udhampur Lok Sabha constituency of Jammu and Kashmir where the defeated candidates of recently-held Assembly elections in the state have become strong contenders in fray for the seat.
As many as 14 candidates are in the fray from the Udhampur Parliamentary constituency, spread over 17 Assembly segments of six hilly districts of the state in Jammu region.
All the major political parties have given tickets to a ‘Singh’ for Udhampur Lok Sabha seat, looking at the fact that Rajputs consist of larger chunk among Brahmins, Mahajans and some lower classes of majority Dogra population in the constituency, which also include considerable Muslims and tribal electors.
BJP candidate Nirmal Singh and his Congress rival and sitting MP Lal Singh top the tally of favourite contenders for Udhampur Lok Sabha seat.
Both Dr Nrimal Singh and Lal Singh had tasted defeat from Gandhi Nagar and Kathua Assembly segments respectively in the Assembly election held in November-December 2008. Dr Singh, a senior BJP leader and former state president of the party, had earlier also contested unsuccessfully for Jammu Parliamentary Constituency.
Similarly, J&K National Panthers Party (JKNPP) candidate Prof Bhim Singh and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) nominee Balbir Singh are also trying their luck after unsuccessfully contesting Assembly elections.
A total electorate of 13, 62,382, including 645,977 female, are likely to vote for in as many as 1,972 polling stations across the six districts of Udhampur, Reasi, Ramban, Kishtwar, Doda and Kathua on April 23. The electors also include 8,654 service voters for the Udhampur parliamentary constituency.
There were 13, 48,721 voters registered for the 2004 Parliamentary elections in Udhampur constituency.
In 2004 Lok Sabha election for the seat, Congress candidate Lal Singh had defeated his nearest rival Prof Chaman Lal Gupta of the BJP by a margin of 47,175 votes. While Lal Singh polled 2, 40,872 votes, Prof Chaman Lal polled 1, 93,697 votes, as per election department.
The total poll percentage for the constituency in last Lok Sabha election was recorded at 45.09. The Assembly segments going to polls in Udhampur Parliamentary elections in 2009 are Kishtwar and Inderwal in Kishtwar district, Doda and Bhaderwah in Doda district, Ramban and Banihal in Ramban district, Gulabgarh, Reasi and Gool-Arnas in Reasi district, Udhampur, Chenani and Ramnagar in Udhampur district and Bani, Basohli, Kathua, Billawar and Hiranagar in Kathua district.
In 1967 elections, Udhampur constituency was represented by Congress candidate Brig Ghansara Singh while as in 1971 midterm poll, the constituency was represented by Dr Karan Singh again on a Congress ticket.
In 1977 Lok Sabha elections, the seat was again won by Dr Karan Singh as Congress candidate and in the midterm 1980 Parliamentary elections, the seat was yet again won by Dr Karan Singh, however, this time on Congress (U) ticket.
In 1984, the seat was won by G L Dogra as Congress candidate while as in 1989 general election, Udhampur seat was won by Dharam Chand of Congress.
In 1996 the seat was won by Janak Raj Gupta on BJP ticket while in 1998 and 1999 elections Prof Chaman Lal Gupta of BJP represented the constituency.
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