Jammu votes today; Congress aims to topple two-term BJP MP Jugal

Arjun Sharma

Jammu, April 25

Elaborate security arrangements have been made before voting for the Jammu Lok Sabha seat on Friday, in which the Congress is leaving no stone unturned to thwart BJP candidate Jugal Kishore Sharma from making a hat-trick.

Sharma, who won the past two LS polls, has been able to maintain a high winning margin. While in 2014, he won by a margin of 2.57 lakh votes, in 2019, he won by nearly 3 lakh votes against Congress candidates. The Congress candidate from the seat is Raman Bhalla, who will be facing Sharma for second time. He was the party’s candidate in 2019 as well.

Security beefed up

• Security forces are keeping an eye on every nook and cranny of the constituency, which is spread over four districts, including Samba, Jammu and Reasi and a few parts of Rajouri
• In the aftermath of the killing of a government employee by terrorists in Rajouri on Monday, special security arrangements have been made ahead of voting

Security forces are keeping an eye on every nook and corner of the constituency, which is spread over four districts, including Samba, Jammu and Reasi and parts of Rajouri. In the aftermath of the killing of a government official by ultras in Rajouri on Monday, special security arrangements have been made for the polls.

CRPF and Special Operations Group (SOG) of J&K police have intensified patrolling in different areas of the constituency. Combing operations have been launched in the forest areas, especially in Reasi and Rajouri, to ensure that there is no presence of terrorists. The police are still looking for the terrorists behind the killing of the government employee. Quadcopters are also being used to keep a vigil in sensitive areas in Jammu and other districts.

Security forces are also using sniffer dogs to check vehicles in many parts of the region so that no arms, ammunition or drugs are smuggled.

Many route marches were conducted in Jammu. All territorial officers, including Sub Divisional Police Officers and SHOs, participated in the marches with Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel. The route marches were planned to pass through the areas where wine shops could be checked for violations of ECI instructions. Route marches are part of standard security measures to ensure safety and order during elections.

Over 17.80 lakh voters will exercise their franchise to decide the fate of 22 candidates contesting from the seat. While the main contest is between BJP and Congress, Ankur Sharma, the chief of Ekam Sanatan Bharat Dal, has also become popular because of his pro-Jammu statements.

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