J-K polls: Lal Singh suffers another defeat in Basholi constituency after Lok Sabha elections

Jammu: Veteran Congress leader Choudhary Lal Singh was defeated on Tuesday by BJP candidate Darshan Kumar in his traditional stronghold of the Basholi seat in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district.

According to the Election Commission (EC) website, 66-year-old Lal Singh secured 15,840 votes but lost to Kumar by a margin of 16,034 votes. Kumar, who maintained a lead from the outset, garnered 31,874 votes.

BSP candidate Pankaj Kumar and PDP candidate Yoginder Singh each received 368 votes and forfeited their security deposits.

"We were confident about winning the seat and contributing to the party's majority. Voters supported our agenda of development and peace. I express my gratitude to the people of my constituency. I humbly bow before them," Kumar told reporters after his victory was declared.

Kumar, a 48-year-old businessman from Basholi, pledged to prioritise the region's development.

Three-time MLA and two-time MP Choudhary Lal Singh faced a challenging task in reclaiming his traditional stronghold for the fourth time.

Lal Singh has previously lost three consecutive general assembly elections to Union minister Jitendra Singh in 2014, 2019, and 2024. In the last Lok Sabha poll, the Union Minister secured a lead of 14,000 votes in the Basholi segment.

Starting his political career as a student leader, Singh was first elected as an MLA from Basholi in 1996. He was re-elected in 2002 and served as the Minister for Health and Medical Education in the Congress-PDP coalition government. He later won the Udhampur seat in the 2004 and 2009 Lok Sabha elections.

A graduate of Jammu University with a degree in Arts, Lal Singh rejoined the Congress in March this year before the Lok Sabha elections, having left the BJP in 2018 following the Kathua rape case.

After parting ways with the BJP in 2018, he launched a movement - Dogra Subhimaan Sangathan advocating for "Dogra pride", which called for a public holiday on Maharaja Hari Singh's birth anniversary and a separate state for Jammu.

He also faces a money laundering case by the Enforcement Directorate and was briefly arrested.