JKNPP leader oldest, poorest among candidates fighting LS polls from twin seats of Jammu region

JKNPP chief patron Bhim Singh is not only the oldest but also the poorest candidate among the 36 politicians who are in fray for the two parliamentary constituencies of Jammu and Udhampur.

The Jammu Lok Sabha seat covering over four districts -- Jammu, Samba, Poonch and Rajouri -- is going to polls in the first phase on April 11 and the Udhampur constituency covering the districts of Udhampur, Kathua, Reasi, Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban in the second phase on April 18.

Besides 78-year-old Bhim Singh, four other candidates have assets worth below Rs 1 lakh while 18 candidates have property, both movable and immovable, worth crores of rupees each.

 

Nine candidates have not filed their income tax returns and another has a pending liability of Rs 15,240 towards the Income Tax Department, according to affidavits filed by the contesting candidates.

The affidavits also revealed that over a dozen candidates have studied till class 12 and 10, two are ex-servicemen and others are businessmen and lawyers.

Bhim Singh, a veteran politician, is among 24 candidates in the fray from the Jammu Lok Sabha seat where a direct contest is likely between incumbent BJP MP Jugal Kishore and Congress candidate Raman Bhalla.

Former BJP minister Choudhary Lal Singh is also trying his luck from both the parliamentary seats. Lal Singh and Bhim Singh had started their political career with the Congress and had won parliamentary elections.

Lal Singh and his BJP colleague Chandar Prakash Ganga resigned as ministers from the previous PDP-BJP government following an outrage over their participation in a rally in support of those arrested in connection with the alleged rape and murder of a girl in Kathua district early last year.

But till date, Lal Singh has not resigned from the BJP even as he floated his own political party 'Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan' to continue his campaign for a CBI probe into the Kathua rape-and-murder case.

His presence in the electoral battle, especially from Udhampur, is likely to impact the chances of Union minister Jitendra Singh who is seeking re-election from the constituency.

Lal Singh had represented the Udhampur seat in parliament twice when he won the elections for successive terms on Congress ticket in 2004 and 2009 before shifting his loyalty towards the BJP in 2014.

Earlier, he had won assembly elections from the Basholi constituency in 1996 and 2002 on Congress ticket, and again in 2014 on BJP ticket.

Other candidates from the Udhampur constituency included Congress leader and scion of Dogra dynasty Vikramaditya Singh, and JKNPP chairman and former minister Harsh Dev Singh.

The National Conference is supporting Congress candidates in both the constituencies, while the PDP has not fielded any candidate to ensure that the "secular votes are not divided".

Bhim Singh, who founded the JKNPP in 1982 after parting ways with the Congress, nominated his nephew Harsh Dev as party chairman in 2012 after holding the post for over 30 years.

He had served as an MLA from 1977 to 1987, MLC from 2003 to 2008 and had also won bypolls from the Udhampur parliamentary constituency in 1988.

The JKNPP patron is among the poorest candidates in the fray from the two seats and according to the affidavit filed by him, he has movable property of Rs 46,000 and immovable property of over two acres worth Rs 38,000.

Bhim Singh, who studied law from a university in London, is living in an accommodation provided by the government in Jammu and had no criminal case pending against him.

However, his 59-year-old nephew has over Rs 32 lakh worth movable and immovable assets but his spouse is richer than him as a total value of her assets is Rs 86.22 lakh.

Three cases are also pending against Harsh Dev, a practising lawyer and according to his affidavit, the cases registered between 2017 and 18 in Udhampur are "politically motivated" after he resisted the alleged highhandedness of BJP activists.

Vikramaditya Singh (54), grandson of the last Dogra ruler Maharaja Hari Singh, is the richest among all the candidates with his assets, both movable and immovable, valuing at Rs 21.90 crore. His wife also has assets worth nearly Rs 13 crore.

However, the Congress leader has a liability of Rs 46 lakh, while his wife has a liability of Rs 2 lakh.

Union minister Jitendra Singh, a doctor-turned-politician, has movable and immovable assets worth Rs 5.84 crore, while his wife has assets worth Rs 1.2 crore.

BJP's Jugal Kishore, who has studied till class 10, has assets worth Rs 4.28 crore, his wife has property worth Rs 70 lakh and two children have assets worth Rs 30 lakh. The minister has a liability of Rs 34.53 crore on account of loan taken from a bank in 2016.

Congress leader and former minister Raman Bhalla, a law graduate, is also among the rich politicians and his assets include movable property worth Rs 35.97 lakh and immovable property worth Rs 2.90 crore.

However, he too has a liability of Rs 49.84 lakh and his wife has a liability of Rs 18 lakh.

BSP's Badrinath and Tilak Raj Bhagat, Hindustan Nirman Party's Sushil Kumar, Navarang Congress Party's Gursagar Singh and independents Tarseem Lal Khullar, Rajiv Chuni, Shahzad Shabnam, Rakesh Mudgal and Ghulam Mustafa Choudhary are among other rich candidates having assets worth more than Rs 1 crore.

Meenakshi (34), the only woman candidate fielded by the Shivsena from the Udhampur parliamentary seat, has disclosed her movable assets at Rs 9.32 lakh and her husband's assets at Rs 11.65 lakh.

Anil Singh (25), a lawyer by profession, is the youngest among the contestants who is fighting the election as an independent from the Jammu Lok Sabha seat.