The Hindu : Parties intensify campaigning in border areas

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Sep 22, 2002

Other States

Other States - Jammu & Kashmir

Parties intensify campaigning in border areas

By Our Staff Reporter

RS PURA (JAMMU) SEPT. 21. With three days left for the second phase of elections in Jammu and Kashmir, political parties are concentrating on the border belt of Jammu region.

As many as six Assembly segments, Bishnah, Samba, Akhnoor, Chamb, RS Pura and Suchetgarh, are located near the India-Pakistan border and most of the parties, including the Congress and the National Conference, kicked off their election campaign from this border belt.

Since this area has repeatedly been shelled from across the border and more so after the Army build-up on both sides, parties are competing with each other in doling out generous assurances to compensate their losses and allotting land at safer places.

The predominant castes in this belt are the Jats, the Rajputs and the Scheduled Castes. Unlike elsewhere, the Scheduled Caste community here is prosperous and also a politically vocal force as they were the main beneficiaries of the land reforms enacted soon after Independence.

In the reserved seats of RS Pura, Samba and Chamb, the main contest is between the Congress, the BJP and the BSP. In Samba, the contest is evenly poised with parties giving tickets to their best possible faces. Last time, the seat was won by the BSP candidate, Som Nath, and the party has fielded him again.

The Congress candidate is Swaran Lata, one of the few female candidates who is contesting the elections and has emerged as a serious contender.

In RS Pura, which produces the world famous Basmati rice, the main contest is between the Congress, the BSP and the NC. In Chamb, from where the Line of Control starts, the Congress Legislative Party leader and sitting MLA, Tara Chand, has been fielded again by his party.

He faces a tough contest from the NC and the BSP candidate, S. Chhaju Ram and Sham Lal.

In Suchetgarh, once the last railway station on the Punjab border before Partition, the main contest is between the Congress and the BJP.

Here, the Congress has fielded a local Jat candidate, Garo Ram Chowdhary, while the BJP has given ticket to a Rajput, R.S. Chib, who had defected from the NC. This is Mr. Chib's fifth defection.

In the Akhnoor seat, a brahmin-dominated seat, Govind Ram Sharma, a sitting MLA and Minister in the NC Government, is locked in an electoral battle with a Congress strongman, Madan Lal Sharma. Similarly, in Bishnah, the sitting MLA, Jagdish Dubey, fighting on a Congress ticket again, faces contest from the Jammu State Morcha and the BSP.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Other States

Stories in this Section

Omar springs a surprise

EC will face `real test' in 2nd phase: Mufti

Jammu set to witness interesting contests

Parties intensify campaigning in border areas