Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi on completing 25 years as head of government, saying repeated electoral success over such a long period was “not easy”. Meanwhile, he also challenged the Centre over allegations involving the Election Commission and warned that voter-list changes could directly affect Jammu and Kashmir too.
Notably, PM Modi completed 25 years as the head of a government on October 7, a journey that began when he became Gujarat chief minister in 2001 and continued after he took office as Prime Minister in 2014. The investigation reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had recorded objections on 14 occasions over a 10-month period. He said he hoped proceedings in the Supreme Court, especially those concerning Form 6, would make it harder for eligible voters to be removed from electoral rolls.
Referring to an Indian Express investigation that reported objections by the two other Election Commissioners to several decisions, he asked why no legal action had followed if the reporting was false. CM Abdullah said the INDIA bloc’s protests over the Election Commission would continue under a programme announced after a recent meeting in Delhi.
“If this is all fabrication, then why don’t you take action against them?” he said. We are taking that forward,” he said. The Union Cabinet has also passed a resolution marking the milestone. CM Abdullah also addressed the controversy surrounding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and recent Opposition protests over the Election Commission. “At least there would have been defamation. But it was not done. “This is the result of the INDIA bloc meeting that took place in Delhi the other day. And the calendar of the whole month was presented to the media.
