In his debut contest, Dr Rajiv Bharadwaj, 62, of the BJP is taking on Congress leader and former Union minister Anand Sharma in the parliamentary seat made up of 13 assembly segments of HP's Kangra district and four of Chamba district.

Over 38 per cent of Gujjar-Bakarwal electors live in Rajouri and Poonch district, which makes their influence on the election outcome for the Anantnag-Rajouri constituency extremely important.