Uproar in J&K Assembly as NC Accuses BJP of 'Vote Chori' in Rajya Sabha Polls
Srinagar: The controversy over the Rajya Sabha elections in Jammu and Kashmir reached the assembly on Monday (October 27) where the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) faced accusations of ‘vote chori’ (vote theft) on Monday (October 27) after its J&K president Sat Sharma secured a berth in the parliament.
The term ‘vote chori’ gained traction in the country after Lok Sabha Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi alleged earlier this year that the BJP had committed systematic voter fraud and electoral irregularities in the 2024 Lok Sabha election for Bengaluru Central seat.
The saffron party defied the electoral arithmetic in J&K assembly complex last week during the election to the Upper House of the parliament by winning one Rajya Sabha seat while the ruling National Conference (NC) bagged the remaining three seats.
Besides the BJP's Sharma, the NC's Sajad Kichloo, Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan and Gurwinder Singh Oberoi were elected to the Rajya Sabha.
Even though the BJP has only 28 seats in the assembly, its J&K president Sharma polled 32 votes in the final leg of the election.
The discrepancy had sparked allegations of horse trading, cross-voting and polling manipulation with the Peoples Conference president Sajad Lone alleging that the surprise win was a “fixed match” between the NC and the BJP.
Fresh uproar broke out in J&K assembly on Monday after the deputy chief minister Surinder Kumar Choudhary stood up to respond to a question when he entered into an argument with the BJP legislator Rajiv Jasrotia over some issue.
A day earlier, Choudhary had said that the victory of the BJP candidate in the Rajya Sabha polls had vindicated the allegations of ‘vote chori’ against the saffron party.
“Yesterday you stole four votes (in Rajya Sabha polls). If I speak out, no one will remain seated here. Let secret remain a secret,” Choudhary warned Jasrotia, triggering some saffron party legislators who pointed fingers and shouted at the treasury benches.
Soon, some ruling party legislators seated behind Chaudhary joined the verbal spat, hurling ‘vote chor’ (vote thieves) allegations at the opposition benches while ignoring the Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather’s repeated pleas for calm, which caused pandemonium in the House.
In the meantime, Peoples Conference president who abstained from the Rajya Sabha polls accused both the parties of complicity saying that the election was a “fixed match” between the NC and the BJP.
Chief minister Omar Abdullah has earlier accused Lone of helping the BJP by abstaining from the election.
In the meantime, Speaker Rather stood and urged the BJP legislators to take their seats, restoring calm in the House which convened on October 23 for a short nine-day autumn session following which the seat of governance will shift to the winter capital Jammu.
'Almost everybody knows the names of those who betrayed us'
The issue of the BJP’s J&K president getting four more votes than the party’s strength in the assembly has triggered a political stir in Jammu and Kashmir with the chief minister claiming that those who “betrayed” his party have been identified, even though he refused to divulge their names.
Speaking with reporters last week, Abdullah said that the party was betrayed “at the 11th hour” and "almost everybody knows the names of those who betrayed us”.
“It is regretful but I thank those people particularly the Congress and other friends who voted for us,” he said.
Abdullah’s father and the National Conference president Farooq Abdullah has also thanked the ally Congress, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and independent candidates for their support in the election while seeking to play down the victory of the BJP candidate.
The ruling party’s candidate and spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar, who was defeated by BJP’s Sharma, bagged only 21 votes in the third round of election, suggesting that the legislators had deliberately cross-voted or invalidated their votes to help the saffron party candidate.
This article went live on October twenty-seventh, two thousand twenty five, at twenty-three minutes past four in the afternoon.The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.
