In Jammu, a Congress candidate ensures vigil 24×7 to ‘secure’ mandate

Lal Singh, the BJP leader-turned-Congress candidate, who also keeps dropping in to keep an eye, says voters have warned him to be “vigilant”. “We have to accept the advice of the people, who have showered so much love on me. Otherwise, they will say they voted for me, but I was lax,’’ Singh says.

The implication is that the BJP may try to fudge the results, with Chandra Singh claiming: “We have learnt a lesson from 2019, when Dr Jitendra Singh managed to win despite a lot of resentment against him in the constituency… We do not want to take a chance.”

It is the first time that such a facility from which constant watch can be kept on strongrooms has been set up on the Kathua Government Degree College premises. (Express)

Jitendra Singh incidentally won the Udhampur-Doda seat hands down, getting 3.57 lakh votes more than his nearest rival, the Congress’s Vikramaditya Singh, the scion of the erstwhile J&K royal family. Lal Singh contested as an Independent, and got only 19,049 votes.

However, this time, Lal Singh is seen as having mounted a tough challenge to Jitendra Singh in the seat, which voted on April 19.

His supporters are now keeping a vigil on the strongrooms holding the EVMs 24X7, in 10-hour shifts. The Udhampur-Doda parliamentary constituency has 18 Assembly segments, and the EVMs are stored Assembly segment wise in 18 strongrooms. The LED screens at the garage are monitoring all the 18 strongrooms.

At any time, there are six supporters of Lal Singh keeping a watch, with Chandra Singh and Kuldeep Singh mostly deployed for the day shift, from 10 am till 8 pm, when they are replaced by others. For the night shift, the arrangements are the same. Chandra Singh says that having six people at one time means they can take turns for a break, including for tea or snacks.

Chandra, Kuldeep and the others say they are loyalists of Lal Singh as he has “always been there for people”, irrespective of caste, creed or place, and has helped them out during crises or medical emergencies at all hours of day and night.

Perhaps reflecting the BJP’s confidence, the party only has one person on strongroom watch duty at any time – that too only during the day, for a six-hour shift (10 am-2 pm; 2 pm-8 pm approximately).

Ram Pal Khajuria, a retired Agriculture Department employee who is among those on watch on behalf of the BJP — with a pedestal fan separating the two groups — plays chess on his mobile phone intermittently as the hours drag.

Asked if the BJP too fears that the Congress may get up to some mischief, Khajuria laughs: “We are here to keep vigil on them (Congress workers).”

Kuldeep Singh adds that there is no tension between them. “We spend time chatting with each other… Now that polling is over, we are just locals who know each other (rather than political rivals),” he says.

It is the first time that such a facility from which constant watch can be kept on strongrooms has been set up on the Kathua Government Degree College premises. The Kathua Deputy Commissioner and returning officer for the Udhampur-Doda parliamentary constituency, Dr Rakesh Minhas, says the candidates and persons authorised by them can also watch the livestream of the strongrooms on their mobile phones, for which an app has been created.

“The locks of the strongrooms will be opened only on June 4 morning for the counting of votes,” he adds.

Two nodal officials on behalf of the returning officer are also on 24X7 duty to check security bandobast of the strongrooms. Anyone visiting the premises to physically check their locks has to be accompanied by either of them. Minhas says he himself makes unannounced visits to ensure there is no lapse in security measures.

Inverters and generators have been arranged to ensure that there is no loss of visuals in case of power cuts.

Additionally, there is a tight security blanket around the premises, with the outer ring manned by the Jammu & Kashmir Police and the inner one by BSF personnel. Only election officials, contesting candidates or their authorised agents are allowed inside.

Both Lal Singh and Jitendra Singh are two-time MPs from Udhampur (as the constituency was called before delimitation). While Lal Singh won the seat in the 2004 and 2009 general elections, Jitendra Singh bagged it in 2014 and 2019.

As a BJP MLA from Basohli, Lal Singh was a minister in the PDP-BJP government that lasted from 2014 to 2018, and was asked to resign following his open support for the accused in the Kathua rape and murder, which took communal overtones. After he stepped down as minister, Lal Singh formed the right-wing Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan Party. He joined the Congress just ahead of the general elections.

The Udhampur-Doda constituency, with its 18 Assembly segments, is spread across the five districts of Kathua, Udhampur, Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban in the Jammu province. Of its over 16.23 lakh voters, 30-35% are estimated to be Muslim.