Shadow Correspondent
Jammu, June, 03
President Vikar Rasool Wani, Congress contesting candidate from Jammu-Reasi Parliamentary seat and JKPCC Working President Raman Bhalla along with senior JKPCC leaders held a meeting on Monday to discuss the party’s performance in the Lok Sabha polls and its preparation for the counting of votes scheduled to take place on June 4.The meeting, presided over by JKPCC Chief, was also learnt to have taken stock of exit polls predicting a big win for the BJP-led NDA, rejecting the forecast. The meeting was attended by Sr. Vice President JKPCC and Chief Spokespersons Congress Ravinder Sharma, District Jammu Urban President Manmohan Singh, Ved Mahajan, Rajnish Sharma, Ex Minister Yashpal Kundal, Naresh K Gupta, Narinder Gupta, Satish Sharma, Amrit Bali, Rajesh Sagotra, Vijay Sharma Babbi, Bopinder Singh Jamwal, Sanjeev Sharma, Balbir Singh, Inder Seghal, Ajay Kumar, Latish Sharma, Dewarka Choudhary, Sandeep Dogra Sonu, Sanjeev Katal, Surinder Singh Dutt, Capt. Ghar Singh, Jaspreet Kour, Ajay Slaria, Rajinder Singh Randhawa, Dara Singh and others
A day before the votes are counted in the Lok Sabha elections, Wani on Monday questioned the veracity of the exit polls which have predicted a comfortable victory for the BJP-led NDA and claimed that the agencies conducting them were only trying to create a conducive atmosphere in favour of the BJP.
He invoked Mahatma Gandhi’s “do or die” call for the country’s future and said the youth are ready to sacrifice themselves.He said the BJP’s “corrupt policies” are not capable of protecting the nation, adding that youth are now ready to take part in a “new freedom movement”.”That is why the public, remembering Mahatma Gandhi’s ‘do or die’ call, is now agitated and ready to fight a new freedom movement to save their own and the country’s future. He said that the INDIA bloc’s victory will be a victory for the country and its people.
“Our exit poll says that the INDIA bloc is winning all five seats in J&K. I have got an internal survey done that also shows good numbers for us,” he said.”We and media were among the people to strengthen democracy. We have seen they (BJP) did not have people (in their rallies), their tents were empty…nothing was seen in their favour,” Wani said.Questioning the exit polls, he alleged that many agencies that conducted the exit polls used to do work of booth management for the BJP.”These exit polls agencies are making a conducive atmosphere in the BJP’s favour,” he said.”They (BJP) want to threaten the opposition. This has been their politics since the beginning… But this time, people are ready. Our youths and all sections of society are ready to protect the votes cast by them,” Wani said.Urging the poll watchdog to make adequate security arrangements for agents of opposition parties, Wani claimed that when the BJP appears weak, it will try to threaten the agents as the administration is with the party.
Speaking on the occasion, Bhalla said “The elections are over. The exit polls are showing many things. The BJP is responsible for many things. They disturbed peace and brotherhood. They conspired to end the reservation. They increased crime against women. They made a record of wrong behaviour. They triggered inflation and unemployment. The poor become poorer,” Bhalla added.Sharpening his attack on the BJP, Bhalla said, “Businesses were ruined by demonetisation. Small shopkeepers were made victims of recession by corrupt GST. BJP wanted to usurp farmers’ land and to bring black laws for farmers. It did not give remunerative prices for crops and pushed the country into unemployment.”Loans worth billions of rupees of the rich were waived but farmers had to commit suicide due to loans. Savings of the middle class were rendered useless by reducing interest rates and other charges.
“The BJP government brought a deadly vaccine without testing. This will have a direct impact on the health of the public and will also affect the health of the coming generations,” Bhalla added.”The exit polls have played a psychological trick. Huge money is involved in the exercise,” he claimed.He said, “The exit poll agencies may claim to have carried out their own surveys. But we gained a first-hand sense of the popular sentiments during the elections. Our leader Rahul Gandhi, and the coalition represented by him, promised jobs, fresh recruitment in railways and restoration of earlier system of employment in armed forces.””On the other hand, all that was on offer from NDA were threats of theft of buffaloes, mangalsutras, and water taps,” remarked Bhalla, in a veiled dig at PM Narendra Modi’s election speeches.He claimed, “There have been a high number of votes cast through postal ballots this time. Such votes are often known to be in favour of a change. We expect that these will be counted properly, taking all parties into confidence.””We also expect that photo copies of Form 17C will be made available to candidates and counting agents, and every round will be declared complete only after all parties have expressed their satisfaction,” he added.
Sr. Vice President JKPCC and Chief Spokespersons said the meeting discussed the voting pattern observed as to how polling took place. “This was also reviewed,” he added.He said the meeting, which was attended by JKPCC senior leaders, held an “extensive discussion” on Lok Sabha elections and deliberated on the deployment of party’s polling agents for counting of votes.
“That polling agents reach in time across all booths, their proper deployment, whether there is any problem in this – all these things were discussed,” he said.The meeting also discussed if there is “any suspicion” over counting of votes anywhere and party office bearers were asked to pay “special attention” to such a situation, he said. “The meeting only reviewed the elections and voting and discussed arrangements and deployment of party workers for counting of votes,” he added.He stressed that the poll panel should issue clear guidelines on the counting process and ensure that those are implemented.
