Sajad Gani Lone on Monday criticised the People’s Democratic Party and the National Conference over the recent Rajya Sabha elections, accusing them of helping the Bharatiya Janata Party win a seat.
Addressing a press conference, Lone said both parties had publicly accused others of supporting the BJP, but in reality, they themselves were responsible for the BJP’s victory in the Rajya Sabha polls.
He alleged that the PDP intentionally failed to appoint an authorised polling agent to verify how its MLAs voted during the election.
According to Lone, the role of a polling agent is to monitor and confirm the voting process of party legislators.
“The RTI revealed that the PDP had not appointed any agent. Because of this, all three MLAs voted as they wished since nobody was there to verify their votes,” he claimed.
Lone further questioned Omar Abdullah, asking whether the Chief Minister truly did not know about the PDP’s failure to appoint polling agents.
He said Omar Abdullah had claimed that he only learned through an RTI response that the PDP had not appointed any agent, which according to him proved the PDP voted for the BJP candidate.
Lone questioned how a sitting Chief Minister could remain unaware of such an important development until it appeared through RTI documents.
He also accused political parties of trying to divert public attention from the issue of alleged cross-voting during the Rajya Sabha elections.
The controversy has added to the growing political tensions in Jammu and Kashmir following the Rajya Sabha polls, where accusations of cross-voting and political favouritism continue to dominate political discussions.