Jammu, Oct 22: Ready for a pitched electoral battle, the Nagrota assembly segment is gaining traction for an interesting yet significant fact.
The electorate of this constituency, represented by key political figures, this time, will have to select their representative from “new players” – though not literally.
After the rejection of three nominations following the scrutiny on Wednesday, ten candidates remained in the fray.
The election will take place on November 11, and the counting of votes will take place on November 14, 2025.
Ten candidates, whose nomination papers were found valid, included Harsh Dev Singh of Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party-India (JKNPP-I), Devyani Rana of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP); Shamim Begum of Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC); Joginder Singh of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP); Naresh Kumar Chib of Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party-Bhim (JKNPP-Bhim); Bodh Raj of Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party; Qari Zaheer Abbas Bhatti of All India Forward Bloc, Anil Sharma and Shah Moh, Gulzar Hussain all independents.
The last date for the withdrawal of candidatures will be October 24, 2025. If none of these candidates withdraws, the final list will have ten contestants – a number enough to create a semblance of “The more the merrier.”
Will it actually be “the more the merrier” scenario in the Nagrota contest, or will it harm the prospects of key players?
The answer to this question will be crystal clear in the next few days as the electioneering gains momentum and trends of people’s response to the election rallies of different candidates start emerging.
Nevertheless, the contest being an intense fight is a foregone conclusion, right from day one.
Notwithstanding the presence of candidates in double-digit (till this moment) in the electoral fray, one could have a broader hint even on October 20 – the last date for filing nomination papers- that in all likelihood, the assembly segment would witness a triangular contest.
A cursory glance at the list of candidates and one would easily zero in on those three candidates – former minister and JKNPP-I candidate Harsh Dev Singh; BJP candidate Devyani Rana, and NC candidate Shamim Begum.
Out of ten candidates, except one (Harsh Dev Singh), none can be dubbed as an experienced politician.
Though the NC candidate is a DDC member from the Dansal area of Nagrota, and independent candidate Anil Sharma has led the All J&K Panchayat Conference, both have experience in politics at the ground level. But the assembly election is altogether a different arena.
Interestingly, Harsh Dev, who is a seasoned politician of J&K, is a new player for the Nagrota assembly, as in the past, he has represented the Ramnagar assembly constituency of the Udhampur district. In the 2024 assembly elections, after Ramnagar constituency was declared reserved, he fought from the Chenani assembly segment and lost to the BJP’s Balwant Singh Mankotia.
This is the first time that Harsh Dev is contesting from the Jammu district.
Out of three key players, for Devyani, the daughter of late Devender Singh Rana, this (assembly by-poll) will be her maiden electoral battle in any format.
Devyani, in any case, is the youngest of all candidates and is in the fray to reclaim the political legacy of her father, Devender Singh Rana. Thus, the constituency, anyway, will elect a ‘new player’.
As far as the constituency profile is concerned, in the past five assembly elections, Nagrota has seen BJP and NC dominance. BJP won this seat in 2002, 2008, and 2024, while NC won it in 1996 and 2014.
Nagrota seat had fallen vacant due to the sad and sudden demise of BJP legislator and its senior leader Devender Singh Rana on October 31, 2024, days after the result of J&K assembly elections. The election result was announced on October 8, 2024.
Rana had made waves by winning the seat with the highest margin of 30472 votes across J&K, defeating the National Conference’s Joginder Singh. He had won this seat earlier in 2014, also resisting the strong Modi wave as a National Conference candidate.
Once considered to be a trusted lieutenant of Omar Abdullah, Rana joined the BJP in October 2021 and managed to retain the Nagrota seat yet again with a record margin.
An interesting aspect was that the Congress and the National Conference, despite being in alliance, opted for a ‘friendly contest’ from the Nagrota assembly segment in 2024. ‘Snubbed by alliance partner’, Congress has left this seat for NC to contest this time.
