"Our Right": Omar Abdullah Slams Poll Body Over Delay In J&K Elections

Hitting out at the Election Commission over the delay in conducting assembly elections, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today said that elections are the citizens' right and the poll body should explain to people why the assembly elections in the Union Territory (UT) are not being held.

"Election is our right. If they want to snatch away the rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and if that gives them some kind of satisfaction, then do it. We too have self-respect. We won't cow down before them. Election Commission should answer this, we want to hear from them," the National Conference leader told reporters here.

Questioning the Election Commission of India (EC), over the delay in the polls in the UT, he asked, "Is there any pressure upon the Election Commission of India that it is delaying the elections here?"

"If there is any pressure, then the EC should say boldly that they have pressure regarding the elections and can't conduct polls. There must be something fishy (zarur daal mein kuch kaala hai)," Abdullah added.

A delegation of the National Conference, People's Democratic Party and Congress had met the ECI in Delhi in March over the demand for elections in Jammu and Kashmir. National Conference President and Omar Abdullah's father, Farooq Abdullah, People's Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti and Congress Member of Parliament Pramod Tiwari were among the members of the delegation.

After the meeting, Abdullah had said that the EC had assured them it would look into the matter. The former "EC has assured us that they're looking into this matter. It's unfortunate that a State which is the crown of India was made a Union Territory. We want a democratic government in J&K," he said.

Omar Abdullah had also earlier said that the BJP's reason behind not conducting Assembly elections in J&K is that they are "afraid of losing". 

"BJP is afraid of holding assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir because it knows that it will lose badly not only in Kashmir but also in Jammu. If they can hold elections in Tripura and Nagaland and in Karnataka, why are they not holding them here? Because they know that they have destroyed Jammu and Kashmir and they will lose here badly," he had said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)