BJP’s Ravinder Raina files nomination papers from Nowshera, three-way fight in Vaishno Devi
Ravinder Raina, who will square off against arch-rival Surinder Choudhary of the National Conference, held a road-show in Nowshera
Bharatiya Janata Party’s local unit chief Ravinder Raina and on Thursday, filed his nomination papers from the Nowshera assembly constituency in Rajouri. The newly carved out seat of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi in Reasi, meanwhile, braces for a triangular contest as BJP’s Baldev Raj Sharma, Congress’ Bhupinder Jamwal and former Congress minister Jugal Kishore Sharma filed their papers.

Raina, who will square off against arch-rival Surinder Choudhary of the National Conference, held a road-show in Nowshera with RSS functionary and former BJP general secretary Ram Madhav before filing his papers. He had won the Nowshera seat in the 2014 assembly polls.
“This isn’t just my candidacy, it represents the aspirations of 1.25 lakh people of the Nowshera constituency. It is their mandate and the voice of the people. The overwhelming turnout here, reminiscent of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rallies, shows BJP’s imminent victory,” Raina said during the rally before thanking the people for their support, asserting that the massive turnout was a promising sign for the BJP’s prospects in the elections.
He exuded confidence in the saffron party forming the government with a majority before slamming Congress and ally National Conference for allegedly disrespecting the J&K’s Maharajas.
Madhav, meanwhile, urged voters to support BJP for continued peace, progress, and development. “BJP will emerge as the single-largest party in Jammu… Our candidates contesting in the valley are strong and poised to lead in the elections,” Madhav said.
Raina, 47, took over as BJP’s Jammu and Kashmir unit in May 2018. His primary opponent, former MLC Surinder Choudhary, had joined the National Conference in July 2023 after spending over a year with the BJP.
National Conference candidate Radhay Sham Sharma had secured the seat in 2008 and it had gone to Congress’ Romesh Chander Sharma in 2002.
Carved out of Reasi post delimitation exercise in May 2022, the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi seat will also see a high-octane contest, with former minister Jugal Kishore Sharma also jumping into fray as an independent..
He had quit the Congress to join Ghulam Nabi Azad’s Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP), but later resigned from the party to contest as independent after Congress fielded Bhupinder Jamwal.
“Though Congress has fielded Bhupinder Jamwal as its candidate and PDP, which has very little base, has fielded Pratap Krishan Sharma, the contest is going to be stiff between former minister Jugal Kishore Sharma and BJP candidate Baldev Raj Sharma,” a political analyst said.
Both Jugal and Baldev have vast experience in the political arena, but the BJP has found the going tough as it is still trying to placate Rohit Dubey, the party’s initial choice for the seat.
A perplexed BJP chief Ravinder Raina was rushed to Katra to soothe frayed nerves after Dubey and his supporters staged a series of protests, the kind that have been witnessed on multiple seats ever since the saffron party withdrew its first list of 44 candidates many of whom were left out later.
