Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday warned of a “dangerous trend” in the electoral process, saying if the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls affects the outcome of the West Bengal Assembly elections, it will set a dangerous precedent from which political parties need to protect themselves.
west bengal Responding to questions about the ongoing assembly elections in India and the recent tension outside a strong room in Kolkata, he stressed that the security of EVMs after the vote is a vital responsibility for any party. Comparing it to the era of physical ballot boxes, he said maintaining a presence outside the strong room to ensure security is a long-standing practice.
Defending the right of leaders like Mamata Banerjee to maintain such surveillance, Abdullah said, "When there were ballot boxes, we also used to do the same. We used to keep our people outside the strong room." He said that even though EVMs themselves may not be the main source of rigging, the integrity of the voter list remains the weakest point in the system.
After inaugurating a flat built for government employees here, Abdullah told reporters, “Today, (votes) are being stolen not through EVMs but through SIR, unfortunately this theft is happening through the Election Commission.”
He warned that if SIR influences the election results in West Bengal, it will set a “very dangerous” precedent for all political parties.
The Chief Minister described the SIR process as a “big challenge” for the opposition and alleged that the current method of “stealing” votes included deletion of names from the voter list.
On exit polls, Abdullah said that they will be proved wrong when the results come on Monday. He said, "Which exit poll has been right so far? Five years ago, when elections were held in West Bengal, all the exit polls had shown BJP forming the government, but what was the result? We will not have to wait much; the results will come on Monday."
On the increase in airfare for the annual Haj pilgrimage, Abdullah said that now that the assembly elections are over, everything will increase. He said, "Now that the elections are over, you will see what else will increase. Commercial gas cylinder (prices) have increased. Fuel prices will increase, everything will increase."
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