In Udhampur, BJP targets a hat-trick but Congress and DPAP launch a challenge

In Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur parliamentary seat, which is holding its first significant election contest since it was divided and reduced to the status of a Union Territory in 2019, the intense electioneering came to a close on Wednesday night.

The first round of voting in the Udhampur Lok Sabha constituency is scheduled for April 19. Twelve candidates will be up for election, including Union Minister Jitendra Singh, who is running for a third term and is up against strong opposition from Congressman Choudhary Lal Singh.

The campaign is triangular since former Jammu and Kashmir minister G. M. Saroori, the nominee for the Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP), is running.

With three victories in a row in sight, the saffron party is now hard at work consolidating its base of support. On Wednesday, the first phase of campaigning comes to an end.

Top party figures, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Minister Anurag Thakur, and senior leader Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, spoke at rallies during the BJP’s campaign in Jammu and Kashmir.

To support its narrative of development, the BJP is depending on the “Modi factor” and the promises it has made, such as the repeal of Article 370, the passing of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Bill, the building of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, and a number of welfare programmes and infrastructure projects.

Jitendra Singh, a union minister and BJP candidate for the Lok Sabha seat in Udhampur, said that the constituency is rapidly developing and that this progress would continue “despite opposition’s propaganda.”

On the final day of the first phase of the Parliamentary election campaign, Jitendra Singh launched a scathing attack on the Congress and its allied opposition parties. He said, “The Congress had deprived this entire region of any development for the last over 60 years and in fact deliberately also halted the ongoing project only to appease their masters and to keep particular sections of vote bank in good humour by doing discrimination with this region.”

According to Singh, the Udhampur seat is one of the most developed in the nation during the last ten years under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “It’s possibly the only constituency in the nation to receive funding from the federal government for three medical schools and numerous national initiatives,” the speaker said.