‘Danger in Boycotting J&K Assembly Polls, it Could be Repeat of What Happened in Lok Sabha Elections,’ Warns NC’s Omar Abdullah

Abdullah was probably referring to how the BJP managed to secure three of the six Lok Sabha seats in the state.

New Delhi: National Conference (NC) Vice-President and MP Omar Abdullah on Friday spoke about the danger of boycotting elections in J&K. At an event, he said, “There’s danger in boycotting polls. If there’s a boycott, then what happened in parliamentary polls will happen in Assembly polls too.”

Abdullah was probably referring to how the BJP managed to secure three of the six Lok Sabha seats in the state. While the three seats in the Valley went to the NC, the saffron party bagged the two Jammu seats as also the sole seat in Ladakh.

Abdullah said that in Assembly elections, “there’ll be a BJP MLA from Tral from where Burhan Wani and Zakir Musa belonged. They (BJP) have their eye on some constituencies here.”

The leader has always maintained that boycotting elections is not the solution. Earlier also, he had told a daily that “by boycotting elections, we play into the hands of the very people who are trying to demonise the people of Kashmir”.

The regional parties in Kashmir, the NC and Mehbooba Mufti’s PDP, had boycotted the panchayat elections, almost serving a victory to the BJP on a platter. So it is not surprising they don’t want to repeat that mistake. Earlier, Abdullah had hit out at BJP’s Ram Madhav for questioning the regional parties on their stance vis-a-vis Assembly elections.

Without naming Madhav, Abdullah had said, “You got the control of a handful of towns and cities (in J&K) because NC and the PDP stayed away (and the Congress did such a poor job of putting up a fight). Do you really think we will give you a walkover in the Assembly polls?” on Twitter.