Omar brims with confidence, sure of ride home in election

Last month, he had admitted that the NC was fighting the toughest polls in its electoral history and that the battle would be fierce on account of the ‘‘anti-incumbency’’ wave.

The NC chief ministerial candidate also repeated his promises to provide for the welfare of the people and give an honest government at today’s press conference. Asked to comment on J-K Congress chief Ghulam Nabi Azad’s assertion about his role in convincing P.V. Narasimha Rao to make Farooq Abdullah the CM in 1996, Omar said the Congress leader needs to check facts because when Farooq was elected as the CM in 1996, H.D. Deve Gowda was the PM and not Rao.

Then, addressing an election rally in Kupwara, Omar lambasted the EC and accused it of adopting a ‘‘partisan’’ approach. He claimed that the complaints lodged by his party with EC were being ignored by the commission.

He said the People’s Conference — led by Sajjad Lone — and the Congress have a covert alliance. ‘‘Sajjad Lone is in Delhi with Saifuddin Soz. He is sitting in Ram Jethmalani’s house.

‘‘They are hatching conspiracies against us. But they will fail. They will know it on October 10 (counting day),’’ he told the people gathered there to hear him campaign for Qaiser Jamsheed Lone, NC nominee for Lolab Assembly segment. PC’s ‘‘proxy’’ candidate Abdul Haque Khan is pitted against Lone here.

He said: ‘‘Three of our party workers were killed here a few days back. Some say they were killed by men in uniform. Some say they were killed by Ikhwanis (counter-insurgents) and some say they were killed by militants. We don’t know who killed them. We will order a probe and expose the culprits soon after we return to power. Why did the EC not order a probe even after our party provincial president said they were killed by Ikhwanis?”