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Speaking to reporters at his Assembly office here after the House was adjourned for the day, Abdullah said, “There are already apprehensions about SIR in Bihar. It is not yet clear whether the exercise will have any benefit for those doing it or not.”
“Let the elections be completed in Bihar, then we will see if it brings any benefit. Then we can talk about implementing it in the rest of the country,” he said.
He advised the election body not to “rush into the nationwide SIR”.
Read more: Election Commission All India SIR Live Updates
Otherwise, it would appear as if the ECI has lost its independence and is working under pressure from a particular political party. We have seen this before also.
The Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister said, “The delimitation in Jammu and Kashmir was not done for the benefit of the people but for the benefit of one political party. The way new seats were distributed and new seats were created, it directly benefited only one political party. The Election Commission should not make such a mistake.”
Abdullah rejected suggestions that there was any understanding between his National Conference (NC) and the BJP for the election of four Rajya Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir.
While NC won three seats in the voting held last week, BJP managed to win one seat.
Rejecting such allegations, he said, “There was no understanding (with the BJP on Rajya Sabha elections). Please understand that the National Conference is the only party in Jammu and Kashmir which gives a tough fight to the BJP. No one else is doing that.”
“We are not ones to make secret agreements. If we had to do so, we would have done so openly. I did not support the Vajpayee government behind closed doors; I joined the NDA. Whether it was right or wrong is a different issue,” the Chief Minister said.
Read more: Why has the electoral state Assam been left out of the Election Commission’s SIR Phase 2?
Abdullah said he wants relations between his government and the Center to be cordial so that governance is not affected.
However, he pointed out that there is a huge difference between the relations between the governments and the relations between the NC and the BJP. ‘There is no relationship between NC and BJP and there will not be in future also.’
Responding to Handwara MLA Sajjad Gani Lone’s allegation that the Rajya Sabha elections were a “fixed match”, Abdullah said he did not understand why someone would comment on the elections when he was not even ready to participate.
He said, “First let him explain what was his compulsion to help the BJP. If he did not want match-fixing to happen, he should have used his vote.”
Abdullah said that the media is expressing surprise at the results of the Rajya Sabha elections.
He said, “You had declared the results much before the voting began. Were you also a part of match-fixing? We still fought. The trouble started when the Handwara MLAs sat out. BJP needed only 29 after that, and they had 28. One or two would have been easy for them, but I did not think that they would get four. Now those four people, who sold their conscience, will have to answer to Allah or God.”
The NC leader said he would like to make public the names of those MLAs who cross-voted or deliberately wasted their votes. He said, “Four votes went in favor of BJP, three deliberately destroyed their votes. Obviously, BJP tried to lure people. On what basis they were lured, only BJP can answer this.”
Read more: CEC says Election Commission will conduct SIR Phase 2 in 12 states and union territories