4 min readUpdated: Sep 24, 2026 04:51 AM IST
A day after The Indian Express reported that two of the Election Commission of India’s three members had objected, on record, at least 14 times in 10 months to decisions taken without their knowledge, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said “there is a need for corrective action” and “if people’s trust in the election is lost, then what is left in the democracy?”
Speaking to reporters at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre in the Valley, Abdullah said, “First, I will compliment The Indian Express. This was a very good piece of investigative journalism. And it shows that if you persist in trying to get to the bottom of a story, it’s not impossible.”
“And then, I think, it opens a lot of questions. We have had persistent complaints about the way in which the Election Commission has functioned. Before SIR became an issue for the rest of the country, for us, delimitation was an issue,” he said.
“We believed the process was opaque, the process was flawed, and the entire process was designed to benefit one political party and its friends. Given what has been shown – the internal divisions within the Election Commission – clearly they say that there is something fishy. And their statement that they (the EC) have issued is even more damning,” he said.
Following The Indian Express report, the EC has acknowledged the “written notes, observations, technical suggestions and internal checks-and-balances”, but described them as part of its “decision-making process”. It did not respond to the specific concerns raised by the two Commissioners.
Abdullah said, “The statement they issued after the reporting of The Indian Express, that there are differences, proves that what is there is not right. And there is a need to take some corrective action. Otherwise, if people’s trust in the election is lost, then what is left in democracy? The basis of democracy is elections, and if people’s trust in the elections is lost, then why should people participate in the elections? So, I think the members of the Election Commission and the government of India should think about this,” he said.
Hours after The Indian Express report, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, accused the ruling BJP and the poll panel of treason. “Vote chori is a crime against the Indian people and a direct attack on our Constitution. The BJP, RSS and EC who organised it have committed an act of treason. Justice will be served,” he posted on X.
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Asked about his remarks, Abdullah said, “If you are stopping someone from voting, where it is their right to vote and they want to vote, and unfortunately, some people who were removed from the voter list, that became an excuse not to give them passports, so what if it is not an attack on the Constitution? What Rahul said is absolutely right. And now we will have to see what steps will be taken to rectify this.”
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