At Vaishno Devi, BJP battles multiple candidates, feud to avoid Ayodhya redux

AFTER a shock defeat from Ayodhya, the heart of Hindutva politics, in the parliamentary polls a few months back, the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi (SMVD) Assembly seat in J&K's Reasi district has assumed additional significance for the BJP.

- FAYAZ WANI

A multi-cornered contest can unpredictably swing the result.

The Vaishno Devi constituency will go to the polls in the second phase of the Assembly polls on September 25.

The significance of the seat can be gauged from the fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday held an election rally and a roadshow in the Katra, which is the base camp for the pilgrims visiting the Vaishno Devi shrine.

Seven candidates are in the fray from the seat, but the main contest is between BJP's Baldev Raj Sharma, Congress' Bhupinder Singh, former MLA Jugal Kishore and independent candidate Sham Singh.