Looking to defend his seat, former minister and two-time National Conference MLA Surjeet Singh Salathia is facing a twin challenge from BJP and Congress in Vijaypur Assembly seat of the border district Samba which goes to polls on December 14.
BJP has fielded Chander Prakash Ganga who is banking on the Narendra Modi wave, while Congress has put Manjeet Singh, a former Minister and a prominent refugee leader, in the contest to ensure that victory for Salathia, who is the Jammu face of National Conference and senior vice-president of the party, for the third time is not a piece of cake.
Salathia, a prominent Rajput leader of the constituency, won the Vijaypur seat, a political hot-spot, in 1996 and 2008 Assembly elections but lost to Manjeet in 2002.
While Ganga is the most aggressive face of the BJP and was seen at the fore-front of most protests during the Amarnath land row agitation in 2008, Manjeet, who was minister in the Mufti Sayeed government, has strong influence among refugees, lower castes and Sikhs of the constituency.
PDP's candidate Hamesh Singh Salathia, who is also popular among Rajput community, and BSP candidate Jagdish Raj are also posing a threat to Salathia, who is hopeful for his victory on the basis of work done in the constituency.
Campaigning reached fever pitch in the constituency when several star campaigners of BJP, Congress, National Conference and PDP including Prime Minister Modi, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Union Minister Jitendra Singh, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, film star-turned-politicians Vinod Khanna, Hema Malini, Navjot Singh Sidhu (BJP), Raj Babbar (Congress), Mukesh Khanna and Mukesh Rishi (NC) held rallies here.
As many as 1,08124 voters, including 55,246 men and 52,878 women, will decide the fate of 14 candidates at 131 polling stations in the Vijaypur segment, which has 218 villages along the International Border.
