J-K: Jitendra Singh, Jughal Kishore to look for hat-trick in LS polls

Jammu: As the BJP came out with its first list of 195 candidates for the forthcoming parliamentary elections, Union minister Jitendra Singh and MP Jugal Kishore Sharma will look for a hat-trick of wins after both of them successfully retained Udhampur and Jammu Lok Sabha seats in 2019 polls, respectively.

Singh (67) and Sharma (61), who are in the list of 195 candidates released by the BJP, had defeated their Congress rivals by margins of over three lakh votes in the previous Lok Sabha polls.

While the Union minister was not available for his reaction, Sharma who was present at the party headquarters along with J&K BJP chief Ravinder Raina and other leaders celebrated his candidature and thanked the party leadership for “reposing faith” in him.

“I am very thankful to the prime minister, home minister Amit Shah, party president J P Nadda and Raina for providing me another opportunity to serve the people. I will work with full dedication to ensure party’s win,” Sharma said.

In 2019, Sharma defeated Indian National Congress candidate Raman Bhalla by a margin of 3,02,875 votes after securing 8,58,066 votes from Jammu parliamentary constituency. He had also won the seat for the BJP in 2014 when he defeated Congress candidate Madan Lal Sharma by over 2.57 lakh votes after securing over 6.19 lakh votes.

Expressing satisfaction over Singh and Sharma's candidature from the two constituencies of the Jammu region, Raina said he is looking forward to win all five seats in the Union territory, given the massive development work undertaken by the prime minister.

“I am sure that we will win both seats of Jammu along with Anantnag, Srinagar and Baramulla Lok Sabha seats,” he said.

A physician by profession, Singh retained Udhampur Lok Sabha seat defeating Congress's Vikramaditya Singh, the grandson of erstwhile Maharaja Hari Singh, by 3,53,272 votes.

As per officials, it was the highest margin of victory of any successful candidate in the erstwhile state. Singh had polled 7,24,311 votes against Vikramaditya Singh who got 3,67,059 votes.

In 2014, Jitendra Singh had defeated former Union minister Ghulam Nabi Azad from the Lok Sabha seat by a margin of 60,976 votes. He was inducted in the Modi government as the Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office.