Jammu, September 17: From a fierce triangular contest to an interesting friendly fight between alliance partners – covering the full range of electoral excitement, eight assembly districts in Chenab Valley of Jammu region will go to polls tomorrow in the first phase of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections.
The eight assembly constituencies, in Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban districts, are among the ones in Jammu where national and mainstream regional parties hold power almost equally.
Till about a decade ago, the Congress and the NCP considered this sub-region of Jammu province their stronghold. In the last two decades, undercurrents of various reasons have changed the situation with the rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
However, the 2014 assembly elections changed the political landscape here, with the BJP emerging as the new real threat to the Congress and the NC. The results shocked the NCP, which suffered a crushing defeat in three constituencies, while the Congress won only two of the six seats.
That is why the 2024 assembly elections will be a high-stakes contest for the BJP and a challenge for the NC and the Congress to regain lost ground. The PDP also remains a strong threat to the NC and the Congress (both) as they both have the same vote bank.
Interestingly, the emerging challenges forced the NC and the Congress to form an alliance ahead of the elections. But at the same time, neither party could resist the temptation to occupy as much ‘exclusive space’ as possible. Hence, the Chenab valley also witnessed ‘friendly competition’ between the alliance partners. The more prominent ‘friendly competition’ took place in the Banihal constituency.
Before delimitation of constituencies, there were six parliamentary constituencies, two each in Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban. In the 2014 parliamentary elections, the BJP won two seats in Doda district and one each in Kishtwar and Ramban districts. The Congress won the Indwar constituency in Kishtwar district and the Banihal constituency in Ramban district.
After delimitation, Chenab Valley has a total of eight assembly constituencies, three each in Doda and Kishtwar and two in Ramban district. After delimitation, two more constituencies, one each in Doda and Kishtwar, have been added.
A total of 22 candidates are contesting in the three constituencies of Kishtwar district, including nine candidates in Indwar, seven in Kishtwar and six in Pader-Nagsaini.
There are 179,374 voters in Kishtwar district, including 91,935 men, 87,435 women and four transgender voters. A total of 429 polling stations have been set up in the district.
Twenty-seven candidates will contest in the three constituencies of Doda district. There will be 10 candidates in Badhwa constituency, nine in Doda constituency and eight in Dodasi constituency.
Doda district has a total of 3,10,613 registered voters, including 1,60,057 men, 1,50,521 women and eight transgenders, spread across three constituencies. There are a total of 534 polling stations in these constituencies.
In Ramban district, 15 candidates are contesting; 8 from Ramban constituency and 7 from Banihal. The district has a total of 2,24,214 voters in the two constituencies, including 1,16,019 male voters, 1,08,193 female voters and 1 transgender voter. A total of 365 polling stations have been set up in the two constituencies.
With so much at stake, the BJP is relying on its main star campaigners — Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and other senior leaders — for a massive, high-intensity campaign, while the Congress is relying on opposition leader Rahul Gandhi to campaign.
Whose magic will work in the end? The answer will be revealed on October 8th.
Three major problems in Chenab Valley
Unemployment
Power and water crisis
Poor connectivity
The main rival in the election
Kishwar District
Kishtwar: Sajjad Kichloo of NC, Shagun Parihar of BJP and Firdous Tak of PDPPadder-Nagseni: Sunil Sharma of BJP, Pooja Thakur of NC, Sandesh Kumar of PDP and BJP rebel Rakesh Goswami, who is contesting as an Independent.
Inner wall: GM Saroori of the Democratic Progressive Freedom Party (DPAP), Sheikh Zafarullah of the Congress Party, Tariq Keen of the PPP and Nasir Ahmed Sheikh of the PDP.
Doda District
Replenish: Khalid Najib Suharwardy of the Nepali Party, Abdul Majid Wani of the Democratic Action Party, Gajay Singh Singh Rana of the BJP and Riaz Ahmed of the Congress Party.
Doda West: Shakti Parihar of the BJP, Pardeep Kumar of the Congress, Tanveer Hussain of the People’s Democratic Party and Abdul Ghani of the Democratic Action Party.
Bhadva: Daleep Singh Parihar of the BJP, Nadeem Sharief of the Congress and Sheikh Mehboob Iqbal of the NC Party.
Ramban District
guide: Rakesh Singh Thakur of the BJP, Arjun Singh Raju of the Congress and BJP rebel Suraj Singh Parihar, who is contesting as an independent.
Banihal: Vikar Rasool Wani of the Congress, Sajjad Shaheen of the NC, Mohammad Saleem Bhat of the BJP and Imtiyaz Shan of the People’s Democratic Party.
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