Who helped BJP win fourth RS seat, questions CM Omar

STC NEWS DESK
SRINAGAR, OCTOBER 24 (STC): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) winning one Rajya Sabha (RS) seat in Jammu & Kashmir has surprised none other than the Chief Minister and National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah. He was expecting all the four RS seats based on the numbers and the support promised by some non-NC legislators.
Taking to X, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said that all NC votes “remained intact across the four elections,” as confirmed by the party’s election agent who monitored the polling slips. He questioned where the BJP’s extra votes came from and why some MLAs apparently invalidated their votes by marking incorrect preference numbers.
“Who were the MLAs who deliberately invalidated their votes while voting? Do they have the guts to put their hands up and own up to helping the BJP after promising us their votes? What pressure or inducement helped them make this choice? Let’s see if any of the BJP’s secret team own up to selling their souls!” the CM wrote.

Notably, Omar dished out his reaction immediately after the Rajya Sabha elections, where the NC’s Choudhary Muhammad Ramzan, Sajjad Kichloo, and Gurwinder Singh Oberoi were declared winners, while BJP’s Sat Sharma secured the fourth seat. The NC had expected to win all four seats based on party strength and allied support in the Legislative Assembly.
The Chief Minister’s remarks point to internal concerns within the NC regarding unexpected voting patterns that prevented the party from securing all seats, despite a majority of non-BJP MLAs in the Assembly.
(Straight Talk Communications)