Srinagar: Farooq slams SIR, says EC ‘not autonomous’

The former CM said that the Narendra Modi government had decided to have two government members and one opposition member on the panel for the selection of the CEC

National Conference president and former J&K chief minister Farooq Abdullah on Sunday hit out at the Election Commission of India over the deletion of voters during Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercises across the country and hailed the “courage” behind protests against such practices, saying a “change” was sweeping India.

Farooq Abdullah (HT Photo)

Abdullah, speaking at the Halla Bol conclave in Srinagar, said that the biggest mistake during the Jawaharlal Nehru administration was not making the EC “totally autonomous”.

“We are suffering today. If the EC was autonomous, the situation would not have been like this,” he said.

The former CM said that the Narendra Modi government had decided to have two government members and one opposition member on the panel for the selection of the chief election commissioner (CEC).

“When the majority will be towards the government, what will the opposition leader do? Modi chose a secretary in his department as CEC by virtue of its majority vote. He is totally working for the BJP,” he alleged.

Referring to the report about dissent within the EC over the SIR exercise, Abdullah said, “Everybody knows (this). The way they struck off people from the voter list and then say that we will see in the next election (about their vote). When the Constitution of India gives you the right as a citizen to vote, no one has the right to remove your name from the list. But they did this and selectively removed Muslims from the lists,” Abdullah said.

“Our people have started to show that courage now. This is India. Change will come, whether I am alive or dead. It is these people that will make India great. Cockroach Janta Party is one of these things that has started this movement. India is not dead; India is alive,” he said.