Supreme Court Scrutiny of Voter Deletions ‘A Welcome Step’: Omar Abdullah
J&K CM says voter deletions need scrutiny; urges Centre to debate UCC in Parliament
Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision to question large‑scale voter deletions carried out during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, saying the development validates concerns he and other opposition leaders had raised earlier but were “largely ignored” at the time.
Speaking to reporters in Srinagar, Abdullah said the media’s recent focus on the issue has finally brought national attention to what he described as troubling irregularities in the revision process.
“Media proved it. We had also talked about it but it drew very little attention. Now the media has also started saying it. It is good,” he remarked, adding that the SC’s intervention—particularly its queries on how names were removed from voter lists—was significant.
The SC has sought responses from both the Government of India and the Election Commission regarding the deletions. Abdullah said he would “wait to see to what extent it is corrected” once the court examines the replies.
He stressed that the matter goes beyond routine electoral housekeeping, arguing that the scale and manner of the deletions warranted judicial scrutiny. “Questions are being raised also in the Supreme Court, particularly the manner in which deletions took place,” he said.
Abdullah also took aim at the Bharatiya Janata Party’s push for a Uniform Civil Code (UCC), asserting that the concept loses meaning if implemented only in select states. “Uniform Civil Code does not become uniform unless it is implemented at all places. We will not implement it here in Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.
He pointed out that Bihar’s ruling party under Nitish Kumar has also refused to adopt the UCC, and that several other state governments have expressed similar reservations.
Abdullah accused the BJP of attempting to advance the UCC “step by step” in states where it holds power rather than introducing it through Parliament. “If you have the courage, bring a bill to Parliament. Have a debate over it and see if it is passed by the House. They will not bring this law in Parliament because they do not have numbers to get it passed there,” he said, adding, “If the BJP‑led government truly has the numbers to pass the UCC, it should present the draft before Parliament rather than testing it piecemeal in BJP‑ruled states.”
He argued that enacting the UCC through individual states undermines democratic principles. “If you look at democracy in true perspective, it is wrong,” Abdullah said, reiterating that such sweeping legal changes must be debated and legislated nationally rather than imposed regionally.
