BENGALURU: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister (CM) Omar Abdullah echoed the opposition’s voice of impeachment of the Chief Election Commissioner.
Addressing the media in Bengaluru, the CM said, “If so many MPs are pressing for impeachment there must be something. I remember from TN Seshan to till recently, no one had any objection. I don’t remember any CEC facing such questions. It appears there is a shortcoming that needs to be addressed.”
Abdullah, who had come to the city to greet a family friend over their son’s wedding and participation in the Bengaluru Marathon, also spoke on the West Bengal elections and said, Mamata Banerjee’s home segment witnessed a 25% reduction in voters. There are 70 seats in which more voters’ names have been removed compared to the loss margin of the BJP in the previous election. Is this not an (SIR) weapon against the BJP’s opposition, he questioned.
The CM also stated that West Bengal’s voter population has reduced. Voting percentage increased due to the reduction in SIR. Many voters were removed. The BJP is only telling about the overall voting percentage but not disclosing how many people have been prevented from voting.
“It is not the fear of EVMs; they do more (fraud) in pre-election management. We expected the court would take up the matter, but it is unfortunate that the matter will be heard only after the elections are concluded,” he said and added, “There are so many people who fought in the borders for the country in uniform. When it is a matter of casting a vote during the Bengal election, we are saying those people are not Indians. Is this not an injustice?”
Abdullah also spoke on Aam Aadmi Party leaders like Raghav Chadda and 6 others switching to BJP and said these’ Ayaram Gayaram’ (defections) incidents have been happening for so many years. “In 1984, my father’s government was pulled down due to defection. This is not the first time. It is unfortunate,” he said.
He said that AAP may hardly be impacted as all those who switched sides cannot win elections on thier own. “They are the Rajya Sabha members and have been para-dropped. Today, they are in the news. I don’t think the BJP will benefit from these hoppers. If these people are so powerful, they would have been Lok Sabha members,” he said.
Abdullah said that he has not been able to understand why these forces are at war with Iran. “Why was the supreme leader assassinated? Trump was telling we would change the regime, which did not happen. The war should be ended and Iran should be compensated, as it did not start any war. We can only pray for the end of the war,” he said.