JAMMU — Sitting MP Jugal Kishore Sharma retained his seat and secured a third consecutive victory in the Jammu Lok Sabha seat. He attributed his success to people and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Sharma, who has been an MP since 2014, received 6,87,588 votes, defeating his closest competitor Raman Bhalla, Jammu and Kashmir Congress vice president, by a margin of 1,35,498 votes.
Bhalla, who had also lost to Sharma in the 2019 elections, garnered 5,52,090 votes.
BSP’s Jagdish Raj received 10,300 votes, while advocate Ankur Sharma of the Ekam Sanatam Bharat Dal obtained 4,278 votes.
“This is a victory for the people of Jammu, Samba, and Reasi. For the third time, they have placed their trust in me. The credit goes to the people, the BJP, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Sharma told PTI.
Sharma emphasised the role of Prime Minister Modi in Jammu’s development.
“Whatever development we have achieved in Jammu is because of Modi ji. We will continue to serve the people and focus on their development,” he said.
When asked about a potential ministerial position in the central government, Sharma said, “I am a loyal soldier of the party. I don’t need any ministerial post; I am better off working as a foot soldier.”
In the 2019 elections, Sharma won by a margin of 3,02,875 votes, securing 8,58,066 votes against Bhalla’s 5,55,191 votes.
In 2014, he defeated Congress candidate Madan Lal Sharma by a margin of 2,57,000 votes.
A Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) worker, Sharma served as a two-time MLA from Nagrota before becoming the president of the Jammu and Kashmir unit of the BJP in 2012.
Following the announcement of Sharma’s victory, BJP workers celebrated with sweets, dance and music. They danced to the tunes of dholaks.
Sharma, along with party unit’s president Ravinder Raina, was then escorted in a cavalcade by a large number of workers from the counting centre to the BJP office.
Historically, the Jammu Lok Sabha seat has been won eight times by the Congress and five times by the BJP, once by the National Conference, and once by an Independent candidate.
In this election, Sharma polled fewer votes as compared to 2019 election, receiving 6,77,571 votes (49.34 per cent) versus 8,58,066 votes (58.02 per cent) in 2019. — (PTI)