Nagrota assembly constituency
Despite over half a dozen rivals in the fray, including “friendly” candidates of the Congress and the National Conference, 59-year old Devender Singh Rana, brother of the Union minister Dr Jitendra Singh Rana, of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) appears. to have an edge over others in the Hindu majority Nagrota assembly constituency.
The constituency, which has over 95,000 electors, would go to polls in third and final phase on October 1.
“Devender Singh Rana has an edge over his rivals because of his secular image. He has a deep connect with the locals. People in his constituency would definitely vote for him because he has always stood by them through thick and thin,” said 60-year-old Yashpal Sharma, a voter of Jandrah village in the assembly constituency.
Mohammad Shafi, 47, another voter from Nagrota, said, “In the given scenario, Rana seems to be the front-runner. His secular image will work in his advantage.”
The constituency largely comprises of Hindu Brahmins, around 35,000 followed by Scheduled Castes (around 22,000), Rajputs (nearly7,000), Thokars (nearly 8,000), OBCs (nearly 3000) and Muslims (around 15,000).
“Though some Muslim voters, including Gujjars, may tilt towards National Conference and the Congress, Rana, despite switching over to BJP, still remains a front-runner,” said Shafi.
Out of four assembly elections since 1996, National Conference and BJP have won Nagrota seat twice each. NC won it in 1996 and 2014 while BJP had two consecutive wins in 2002 and 2008.
Ajatshatru Singh, son of Dr Karan Singh, had won the seat in 1996 on National Conference ticket in 1996 followed by BJP MP Jugal Kishore Sharma for two straight terms in 2002 and 2008.
Despite Modi wave in 2014, Rana had won Nagrota assembly seat on NC ticket. Rana secured 23,678 votes against Nand Kishore, BJP MP’s Jugal Kishore Sharma’s brother. Nand Kishore had secured 19,630 votes and lost to Rana by a margin of 4,048 votes.
This election, besides Rana, other candidates in the fray are Joginder Singh, alias Kaku, of the National Conference, Balbir Singh of the Congress, Shak Mohammad of the BSP, Shah Mohammad an Independent, Shabir Chowdhary of the Apni Party, Sat Paul of the Samajwadi Party and another Independent Jaswant Singh.
The Congress and the National Conference are in a “friendly” contest against each other.
Once a close confidante of National Conference vice-president and former chief minister Omar Abdullah, Rana along with another NC leader Surjit Singh Salathia, had parted ways with the NC and joined the saffron party in October 2021.
Rana had then attributed his shift to BJP to saffron the party’s positive response to his efforts to set a “Jammu narrative” through “Jammu Declaration”.
Farooq and Omar Abdullah were quite miffed over the exit of Rana and Salathia, two senior leaders, who over the years had become Hindu faces of the National Conference in Jammu region.
