Ruling out cross voting by the ruling National Conference (NC) MLAs in the polling for four Rajya Sabha from Jammu and Kashmir, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday evening said that the party votes have remained intact.
Omar’s comments came after the NC won three of the four Rajya Sabha seats, while the BJP candidate Sat Sharma polled 32 votes and won the fourth seat even though the party has a strength of 28 votes in the Assembly.
Omar wrote on X; “All of @JKNC_ votes remained intact across the four elections, as witnessed by our election agent who saw each polling slip. There was no cross voting from any of our MLAs so the questions arise – where did the 4 extra votes of the BJP come from? Who were the MLAs who deliberately invalidated their votes by marking a wrong preference number while voting? Do they have the guts to put their hands up and own up to helping the BJP after promising us their votes? What pressure or inducement helped them make this choice? Let’s see if any of the BJP’s secret team own up to selling their souls!
“Heartiest congratulations to my colleagues Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan, Sajad Kichloo & Shammi Oberoi on their victory in the Rajya Sabha polls. I wish them well as they begin a new innings representing the people of J&K in the Parliament of India. At the same time my heart goes out to my young colleague Imran Nabi Dar. We put in our best effort to get him elected but were let down at the last moment. It’s not easy to lose a hard fought election but I’m confident other opportunities will open up for him soon”, Omar added.
Mocking at the NC, Peoples Conference chief and MLA Sajad Lone commented on X; “So BJP wins the fourth seat. As predicted fixed match. Axis of the evil. NC and BJP”.
He further wrote; “Thank God I abstained. Imagine what my plight would have been. Now mathematically proved. That it was a fixed match. Why did NC poll extra votes for candidate 3. They didn’t need to. They polled 31 votes for candidate 3. Only 29 votes would have sufficed. Even 28. Because BJP was fighting for seat 4. Who cross voted. Whose votes were rejected. And who was hand in glove”.
PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti wrote “Congratulations to Ch. Ramzan Sahib, Sajjad Kichloo, and Shami Oberoi on being elected to the Rajya Sabha. I hope they will use this platform to strongly represent and speak up for the people of Jammu & Kashmir”.