Omar Abdullah, a prominent leader from the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC), has voiced concerns over the recent Rajya Sabha election results. The JKNC secured three seats, while the BJP won one. Abdullah specifically questioned the validity of the BJP candidate’s win, highlighting an alleged surplus of four votes that he claims cannot be accounted for by legitimate cross-voting from the JKNC’s legislators.
Abdullah took to social media platform X to express his doubts, stating, “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 question arises—where did the 4 extra votes of the BJP come from?”
He further pressed for accountability, questioning the integrity of the electoral process by asking, “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!”
JKNC Secures Majority, BJP Claims One Seat
The election results saw the JKNC’s senior leader Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan declared a winner with 58 votes, alongside fellow party members Sajad Kichloo and Shammi Oberoi. The National Conference extended congratulations to its elected leaders via a post on X.
In contrast, the BJP’s state president, Sat Paul Sharma, secured the fourth seat with 32 votes, defeating the JKNC’s Imran Nabi Dar, who garnered 22 votes.
These four Rajya Sabha seats had become vacant in February 2021 due to the retirement of Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mir Mohammad Fayaz, Shamsher Singh, and Nazir Ahmed Laway.