Amid a blame game over “cross-voting” in the election for one Rajya Sabha seat among non-BJP parties in Jammu and Kashmir, Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary said BJP winning a Rajya Sabha seat from Jammu and Kashmir vindicated “vote chori” charges against the party. He said National Conference (NC) would prefer to leave the government than ally with the BJP.
Deputy Chief Minister has also accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of using threats and intimidation to secure votes in the recently concluded Rajya Sabha elections.He said it was “foolish and shameful” for the BJP to celebrate what he described as a “stolen victory.”“The BJP threatened MLAs to get votes. Celebrating after stealing votes is a ridiculous attitude,” the Deputy CM said.Supporting the allegations, Surinder Choudhary claimed that several MLAs were purchased to change the outcome of the election.He asserted that a BJP victory in the Rajya Sabha polls was impossible under normal circumstances, adding that the result clearly shows manipulation and misuse of power.
“Democracy has been mocked,” he said, urging a probe into how the BJP managed to secure unexpected votes in a closely contested election.“We used to hear that the BJP buys and steals votes but the people in Jammu and Kashmir did not believe it. But it has been proven this time that the BJP is really involved in vote chori.“I will not say how they did it, whether money was involved or not but whatever happened, they managed some votes,” the deputy chief minister told reporters in Udhampur district.Opposition parties, mainly the Congress, have been alleging that the BJP and the Election Commission have colluded to “steal votes” to win elections.
Choudhary, who is scheduled to join NC candidate Shamim Begum in campaigning for the Nagrota bypolls, said the BJP only had 28 members but their candidate got 32 votes. “From where did they get the four extra votes?” “This lollipop party teaches us a lesson about decency and principles but they should learn the lesson of decency and principles from us,” he said.Chaudhary said the NC has not exchanged votes for money or made any other promise and asserted that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has been saying from the beginning that the BJP was going to indulge in horse-trading. “They have done horse trading, which is now proven,” he said.
None of the NC legislators cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha elections in favour of the BJP candidate, he said.
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