SRINAGAR: BJP sprang a surprise on National Conference Friday in J&K’s first Rajya Sabha election since the abrogation of Article 370, clinching one of the four seats at stake with 32 votes – four more than its current strength of 28 in the assembly.BJP candidate Sat Sharma’s victory came amid allegations of cross-voting by the governing party, which had secured ally Congress’s backing and the opposition PDP’s conditional support for the election. Supporters of BJP and NC were briefly locked in a confrontation outside the assembly after the results were declared.While NC’s victorious trio – Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan, Sajad Ahmad Kichloo and Shammi Oberoi – were expected to win the election at a canter, Sharma’s triumph led People’s Conference legislator Sajad Lone to label it a “fixed match”. Lone abstained from voting.“Why did NC poll extra votes for candidate 3? They didn’t need to. They polled 31 votes for candidate 3 when 29 would have sufficed. Even 28. That’s because BJP was fighting for seat 4. Who cross-voted? Whose votes were rejected? And who was hand-in-glove?” he said.Sharma, who heads the J&K unit of BJP, thanked all legislators who supported him. On the extra votes he received, the newly elected RS member said he had reached out to everyone, irrespective of party affiliation, and “appealed to their inner conscience” to vote for a candidate who would work for the greater good. “They listened to their conscience and voted for me,” he said.CM Omar Abdullah ruled out cross-voting by anyone from his party. “All of NC’s votes were intact across the four elections, as endorsed by our election agent after seeing each polling slip. So, where did the extra votes of BJP come from? Who were the MLAs who deliberately invalidated their votes by marking a wrong preference number while voting?” he said.“Do they have the guts to put their hands up and own up to helping BJP after promising us their votes? What pressure or inducement helped them make this choice? Let’s see if any of BJP’s secret team own up to selling their souls.”Sharma’s rival, NC’s Imran Nabi Dar, accused BJP of horse-trading. “They won this seat despite not having the numbers. They might have bought these votes. Those who cross-voted should come forward. Otherwise, we will expose them.”
