Srinagar, Oct 15: Congress suffered a setback in the Jammu district, losing four crucial assembly seats—Bahu, RS Pura-Jammu South, Chhamb and Akhnoor—due to poor ticket allocation and internal disagreements among senior leaders.
Insiders say that misjudgments in candidate selection on these key seats cost the party victory, sparking internal blame games and calls for organizational changes.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Congress had shown potential in these constituencies, leading on one seat and giving BJP a tough contest on another. However, the last-minute announcement of candidates for the assembly elections resulted in defeats across all four seats, derailing the party’s chances of securing a stronger position.
Party insiders said that Congress had high hopes, especially in the RS Pura-Jammu South constituency, where it had secured 44,162 votes in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, ahead of BJP’s 37,798 votes. Congress leader Taranjit Singh Tony, who had actively worked in the constituency for the past three years and held a District Development Council (DDC) position, was seen as a natural candidate.
However, the party leadership fielded Raman Bhalla, a former Lok Sabha candidate and Congress working president, instead.
Bhalla, despite putting up a tough fight, lost to BJP’s Dr. Narendra Singh by just 1,966 votes. Many within the party believe that fielding Tony, a Sikh face with deeper local connections, might have changed the outcome.
Tony was also considered for the Bahu seat but was eventually dropped in favour of Bhalla, despite Bhalla’s limited influence there. Observers within the party argue that if Bhalla had contested from Bahu and Tony from RS Pura-Jammu South, the party could have secured both seats.
In Chhamb, another strategic error occurred. The seat, formerly reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates, became a general category seat in 2024. Instead of capitalizing on the change, Congress fielded Tara Chand, a former Deputy Chief Minister who won the seat in 2008 when it was SC-reserved. However, his influence had waned over the years. Tara Chand lost to independent candidate Satish Sharma, son of former Congress MP Madan Lal Sharma, who had stronger local support.
Congress faced a similar dilemma in Akhnoor, where it could have fielded Tara Chand, leveraging his SC appeal against BJP’s Mohan Lal. Instead, the party went with Ashok Kumar, who finished second. The lack of strategic foresight led to defeat in this constituency as well.
Congress’s dismal performance in these four constituencies has triggered significant introspection within the party. The defeat underscores the consequences of factionalism and the failure to place leaders in seats where they had the most influence. Internal discussions suggest that misaligned priorities among senior leaders resulted in the poor outcome, with the party winning just six seats overall—the lowest in nine elections—only one of which came from the Jammu division.
KNO
