On eve of vote counting, Cong accuses BJP of playing games to engineer majority in J&K

NEW DELHI, Oct 7: A day before Jammu and Kashmir Assembly poll results, the Congress on Monday accused the BJP of taking “malicious steps” through a “malafide exercise of power” to negate the people’s verdict in favour of the Congress-NC alliance in the Union Territory.
The party said it will do everything in its power to thwart such “nefarious designs”.
In a post on X, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, “Facing imminent defeat, the BJP is playing desperate games to engineer a majority and hoping for a hung assembly to aid them in their subterfuge.” They know that the people of Jammu and Kashmir have given a clear mandate to the Congress-National Conference (NC) alliance, he said.
“To undo this democratic process, they have resorted to the old ways of their self-proclaimed bogus ‘Chanakya-niti.’ We have clear information and basis to say that malicious steps are being taken through a colourable and malafide exercise of power to negate the people’s verdict in favour of the INC-NC alliance in J&K,” Ramesh said.
“We will do everything in our power to thwart such nefarious designs,” he alleged.
Congress general secretary, in-charge organisation, K C Venugopal said there is a clear danger to the people’s mandate in Jammu and Kashmir.
“The INC-NC alliance is on the way to a historic victory, but the BJP is not ready to digest the democratic verdict and is planning to subvert this through any and all means available at its disposal.
“We are vigilant to all their dirty tricks and will not let them hijack our democracy. The misuse of institutions and the Centre’s powers to alter the mandate will not be tolerated,” he said.
The exit polls, which came out on Saturday, have put the NC-Congress alliance in the pole position with the regional party getting the lion’s share of the seats.
The BJP is expected to slightly improve on its tally of 25 seats which it had won in the 2014 Assembly polls while the PDP, which had won 28 seats in the polls held 10 years ago, is predicted to win less than 10 seats this time.
Jammu and Kashmir Congress chief Tariq Hamid Karra has said the NC-Congress alliance will get a “comfortable majority” in the Assembly elections and added that the doors are open for like-minded parties and individuals to keep the BJP out of power.
On the possible nomination of five MLAs by the Lieutenant Governor who could also play a role in government formation, Karra said that would amount to “rigging the poll results”, contrary to the basic concept of democracy and defeating the mandate of the people.
Jammu and Kashmir voted in three phases on September 18, 25 and October 1. The votes will be counted on Tuesday. (PTI)