Omar Abdullah Challenges Invalid Votes in Rajya Sabha Polls, Congratulates NC Winners

SRINAGAR: Chief Minister and National Conference (NC) vice president Omar Abdullah on Friday firmly dismissed any possibility of cross-voting by his party MLAs in the Rajya Sabha elections held in Jammu and Kashmir.

He issued a bold challenge to those who intentionally invalidated their votes by marking an incorrect preference during the voting process, urging them to come forward and admit their actions.

Following the announcement of the election results, which saw the NC securing three of the four available seats while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) clinched the fourth seat with four additional votes beyond its 28-member strength, Abdullah took to the social media platform 'X' to address the outcome. He stated, “Every single NC vote remained intact across all four elections, as verified by our election agent who carefully examined each polling slip. There was no instance of cross-voting from any of our MLAs. This raises critical questions: Where did the BJP’s four extra votes come from? Which MLAs deliberately invalidated their votes by choosing the wrong preference number? Do they have the courage to step forward and admit to aiding the BJP after promising their support to us? What pressures or inducements influenced their decisions? Let’s see if any members of the BJP’s covert allies have the integrity to confess to compromising their principles!”

In a separate post, Abdullah extended his congratulations to the successful NC candidates. He wrote, “My heartfelt congratulations to my esteemed colleagues, Choudhary Myhammad Ramzan Sahib, Sajad Kichloo, and Shammi Oberoi, on their well-deserved victory in the Rajya Sabha elections. I wish them every success as they embark on this new chapter, representing the aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir in the Parliament of India.”

Expressing empathy for the NC’s fourth candidate, party spokesman Imran Nabi Dar, who was defeated by BJP’s Sat Paul Sharma, the Chief Minister added, “At the same time, I deeply sympathise with my young colleague Imran Nabi Dar. We made every possible effort to secure his election, but we were unfortunately let down at the final moment. Losing a hard-fought election is never easy, but I am confident that new opportunities will soon arise for him to serve the people.”