Ahead of filing nomination, Jitendra Singh performs puja at home in Jammu

Jammu, March 21 (PTI) Ahead of filing nomination for the Udhampur-Kathua Lok Sabha seat which is set to go to polls in the first phase of elections on April 19, Union minister Jitendra Singh on Thursday performed a puja at his residence in Jammu.

The notification for Udhampur Lok Sabha constituency was issued on Wednesday along with 102 seats in 17 states and four Union territories where polls will be held in the first phase.

Singh, whose candidacy was announced in the BJP’s first list on March 3, performed a puja at his residence in Trikuta Nagar area of the city in the presence of friends and relatives.

The last date of filing of nominations is March 27, scrutiny of nominations will be on March 28 and the last date of withdrawal of candidature is March 30 for the first phase.

The Udhampur-Kathua Lok Sabha constituency, once a stronghold of the Congress party, is gearing up to decide Singh’s fate who is competing for a hat-trick of wins in the forthcoming parliamentary elections.

In 2014, Singh defeated former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and veteran Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad by more than 60,000 votes from the Udhampur seat. Singh received 4,87,369 votes to 4,26,393 votes garnered by Azad, who has since quit the Congress.

In 2019, he won against Congress candidate Vikram Aditya Singh, the son of Congress leader Karan Singh. He won by a substantial margin of 3,57,252 votes.

After a recent summary revision, the Udhampur-Kathua constituency now has over 16.20 lakh registered voters.

Lok Sabha elections in Jammu and Kashmir will be conducted in five phases with voting in each of the five parliamentary constituencies to be held in a separate phase.

Polling in the five Lok Sabha constituencies will be held on April 19 (Udhampur), April 26 (Jammu), May 7 (Anantnag), May 13 (Srinagar) and May 20 (Baramulla).

The Ladakh Lok Sabha seat spread over Kargil and Leh districts will go to polls in the fifth phase of polls.