The Jammu Lok Sabha seat mainly comprises the plains and the Hindu-majority belt in Samba, Reasi and Jammu districts of Jammu and Kashmir. It is a battle of prestige for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is pitted against the INDIA bloc, with the regional parties, including the National Conference (NC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) weighing in for the Congress’ candidate.
The rise in the popularity of the BJP candidate, Jugal Kishore Sharma, who is seeking a third term, has matched the rising trajectory of the party since 2014 nationally. Mr. Sharma’s winning margins in the 2014 and 2019 parliamentary elections are indicative of the BJP’s strong grip over the region. The 2014 Jammu Lok Sabha seat was won by a margin of 2.57 lakh votes, and in 2019, Mr. Sharma won by a margin of 3.02 lakh votes. The BJP won the Jammu seat for the first time in 1998, and since then, Mr. Sharma has managed to win it twice.
This year, the BJP galvanised support on the streets in the Hindu-majority Jammu district. Jammu is known as the ‘city of temples’, and a show of strength in the run-up to the consecration of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya countered the growing resentment in the area’s business community over the cancellation of the annual shifting of the capital to Jammu, known as the ‘Durbar move’, which has significantly impacted businesses in the winter months.
