A political contest emerges in Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur, geographically one of the largest parliamentary constituencies
The Hindu
In one of the largest constituencies in the country, the so far one-sided contest has turned interesting with the entry of Lal Singh Choudhary, standing against BJP’s Jitendra Singh
Kanta Andotra knows she has a tough task cut out for her. The former MLA is canvassing for votes from village to village on behalf of her husband, Lal Singh Choudhary, a two-time MP from Udhampur.
Mr. Choudhary, a Congress party candidate, has been fielded against the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Jitendra Singh, who won in the previous two Lok Sabha elections with a landslide margin.
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During the 2014 General Election, Mr. Choudhary, who had briefly joined the BJP and was a Minister in the then BJP-People’s Democratic Party (PDP) government, had helped Mr. Singh in his election campaign. The so far one-sided contest has turned interesting with the entry of Mr. Chowdhary.
Ms. Andotra begins her speech by invoking Mata Vaishno Devi, the revered deity. “Do you want a candidate to whom you can reach through a call even in the dead of the night or someone who never steps foot in the area? Do you want a local representative or an outsider? Our issues are raasta and naali [road and drainage], there are no jobs for the youth, pension for widows and Anganwadi workers have stopped,” Ms. Andotra says to a group of men and women at Kootah in Kathua district, assembled in the precincts adjacent to a temple.
Udhampur goes to vote on April 19 and, geographically, is one of the largest parliamentary constituencies in the country. It comprises Doda, Ramban, Kathua, Kishtwar and Udhampur districts, and has a 60% Hindu and 40% Muslim population.
Some locals said that Mr. Singh was an “absent MP.” Others said that his job in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) keeps him busy.
The Election Commission of India will hold a press conference on June 3, a day before the counting of votes polled in the Lok Sabha polls. Till the 2019 parliamentary polls, deputy election commissioners used to hold media briefings after each phase of polls, but the practice has been done away with.