Updated March 10th, 2019 at 18:56 IST

Omar Abdullah criticises ECI's decision to not conduct J&K state elections along with Lok Sabha polls; hits out at BJP leadership

Following the announcement, former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir in a series of tweets expressed his thoughts over the announcement. 

Reported by: Aishwaria Sonavane
| Image:self
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The countdown to 2019 Lok Sabha elections officially began on Sunday, March 10, with the announcement of dates of elections by the Election Commission of India at a press briefing in Delhi. The General elections will be held for 543 Lok Sabha seats on nearly 10 lakh polling booths across the country which higher compared to 9 lakh in 2014, with 84 million more voters will be casting their vote this time, announced the CEC Sunil Arora.

Following that, the former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir in a series of tweets expressed his thoughts over the ECI election dates announcement. 

The NC leader found something wrong with the EC announcement where they counted 7 or 8 seats for Jammu and Kashmir however he said that the state has only six seats. 

In the next tweet, the Abdullah scion expressed his disappointment when the ECI did not announce the dates for Jammu and Kashmir elections saying, "No Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir"

For which, he censured the BJP leadership, so much so that he went on to say that "PM Modi has surrendered to Pakistan, to the militants and to the Hurriyat" for failing to conduct assembly elections in the state.

He questioned the assurance provided by the Home Minister Rajnath Singh that "all forces would be made available for simultaneous polls?"

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He went on to say that this is the first time since 1996 that the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir are not being held on time, and that even in 2014 despite of a devasting flood elections were held on time. 

Omar Abdullah further went on to censure PM Modi's leadership by saying, "Balakote & Uri are not symbols of PM Modi’s handling of national security, J&K is and look at the mess he has made there." 

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Published March 10th, 2019 at 18:43 IST