Kathua: Twelve candidates including Dr Jitendra Singh from Bharatiya Janata Party and Ch Lal Singh from Indian National Congress have been left in fray for the 4-Udhampur Parliamentary Constituency after security of papers.
The Returning Officer (RO) for the 4-Udhampur Parliamentary Constituency, Dr. Rakesh Minhas, conducted the scrutiny of nomination papers submitted by candidates for the upcoming 18th parliamentary elections.
The process of the scrutiny was held at the office of Returning Officer here at D C Office complex today.
After thorough scrutiny, the nomination forms of 12 candidates namely Amit Kumar from Bahujan Samaj Party, Balwan Singh from J&K National Panthers Party (Bhim), Dr Jitendra Singh from Bharatiya Janata Party, Ch Lal Singh from Indian National Congress, Manoj Kumar from Ekam Sanatan Bharat Dal besides Dr Pankaj Sharma, Rajesh Manchanda, Sachin Gupta, Swarn Veer Singh Jaral, Ghulam Mohd Saroori, Mohd Ali Gujjar and Mehraj Din as Independent candidates were found validly nominated candidates.
The candidature of three candidates namely Prem Nath from Bharatiya Janata Party, Tilak Raj of Bahujan Samaj Party and Divya Suraj Partap Singh from Indian National Congress becomes null and void as they were the covering candidates and due to formal consideration/approval of the candidature of the main candidates as validly nominated candidates from the respective parties.
The scrutiny was held in presence of General Observer for 4-Udhampur, PC Dheeraj Kumar, contesting candidates and representatives of political parties.
As per the issued election notification, the candidates can withdraw their nomination before 03:00 pm on 30.03.2024 in the office of Returning Officer.
The constituency is scheduled for elections in the first phase of General Elections to be held on April 19.

KR Desk