Srinagar: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday pinned his hopes on the Supreme Court proceedings to prevent any further voter deletions under the Special Intensive Revision, saying there is a possibility of “tampering” with the polls through the voter revision exercise.
Hope the top court would make it difficult to remove names from the voter list, Abdullah told reporters here and added that Jammu and Kashmir has already been a victim of “tampering” due to the delimitation exercise.
The SIR is yet to be held in Jammu and Kashmir.
“Just as in the rest of the country, this is being done to tamper with elections. It is possible they will attempt to do the same in Jammu and Kashmir. However, we have already been victims of such tampering before. We have not forgotten the delimitation exercise yet. The sole purpose of that delimitation was to help the BJP. The same will likely happen with the SIR,” the chief minister said.
“I hope that with the proceedings currently underway in the Supreme Court, especially regarding Form 6, it will become slightly difficult for them to remove people from the voter list here,” he added.
Abdullah defended the INDIA bloc’s escalating agitation against the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, questioning the BJP’s claim that allegations against the poll panel are “fabricated”.
“Where is the fabrication? If it were fabricated, why don’t they take action against the newspaper through which all this came to light? I have not seen any defamation suit filed against them anywhere. Somewhere or another, whatever the Indian Express reported must be true, right? Had it not been true, the government would have taken action against them — or at least filed a defamation case. They haven’t done that,” he said.
The CM added that the logical conclusion to draw is that whatever the newspaper reported was accurate.
“As for the question about the protests: the INDIA bloc meeting held recently in Delhi decided on this course of action. (Congress chief Mallikarjun) Kharge sahab announced a month-long calendar before the media, and we are simply taking that forward,” he said.
On a question about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 25 years in public life, Abdullah said, “Standing here, how can I review an entire span of 25 years? He must have done something right for people to have voted for him repeatedly.
“It is not easy to continuously win elections for 25 years — first at the state level and then at the central level. Well, on my behalf and on behalf of my colleagues, I extend my congratulations to him”.
Responding to a question about the expansion of his council of ministers, the chief minister said he would soon hold consultations with his party leadership.
“I had said it would happen after the (assembly) session. The session has just concluded. I would have done it during these days, but tomorrow there is a GST Council meeting in Delhi. After completing that and returning, I will consult with (NC president) Farooq (Abdullah) sahab and decide on the next course of action,” he said.
Reacting to the transfers of several bureaucrats by the Lieutenant Governor earlier in the day, Abdullah said the postings must have been made thoughtfully.
“Well, in our governance setup, what can one say… this is the system. Some changes are made by us, some are made by the LG sahab. Surely, he must have made these transfers thoughtfully. Now, whichever departments these officers have joined, we will work together with them,” he added.
To a question about framing recruitment rules, the CM said they were “almost ready” and given final shape.
“In the rules that were drafted and proposed earlier, there were certain contradictions. Those contradictions are being resolved. We didn’t want to rush into this only to have counterproductive results.
“So, even if it takes a couple of days longer, thorough due diligence is being carried out to eliminate any contradictions and legal ambiguities, so that the law can be properly implemented. These are being sorted out, and I believe they will be notified very soon,” Abdullah said.
