E-Paper
BJP wins both seats in Jammu
The BJP won both the parliamentary seats in the Jammu region. It was in 1997 and 1998 elections when on both the occasions, the NDA had formed the government at Centre after the BJP's win on these seats.
The BJP won both the parliamentary seats in the Jammu region. It was in 1997 and 1998 elections when on both the occasions, the NDA had formed the government at Centre after the BJP's win on these seats.
The Congress, which had contested both the seats in Jammu with an alliance with the National Conference, had a rude shock with the defeat of Union minister and former chief minister Dr Ghulam Nabi Azad. Azad was defeated by Dr Jatinder Singh of the BJP, contesting his first ever elections. He won by 60,484 votes from the Udhampur constituency. Azad was contesting MP elections for the first time from his home state. He had successfully contested from Washim (Maharashtra) in 1985.
The Congress was virtually trounced on the Jammu seat, where its two-time sitting MP Madan Lal Sharma was defeated by Jugal Kishore Sharma, state unit president of BJP, by 2.26 lakh votes. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) polled 1.61 lakh votes, eating into the traditional votes of the NC-Congress combine.
The vote share of BJP was 12% more than the Congress. The BJP polled 11,520,78 votes claiming 32% of votes, while the Congress with 22.9 percentage votes polled 81,5093 votes.
