Elections can be manipulated, votes can’t be stolen through EVMs: CM

Jammu, Dec 3: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Wednesday stated that the votes could not be stolen by the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) but the elections could be manipulated to some extent.

He stated that the delimitation exercise in J&K was a kind of election manipulation.

The Chief Minister asserted that it was the responsibility of the Election Commission of India (ECI) to allay the apprehensions about the Special Intensive Revision.

With regard to admission row in SMVDIME, CM Omar reiterated his earlier stance that merit was the only criterion to secure admission there and the religion.

He was responding to media queries after chairing a cabinet meeting in Jammu.

“The conduct of elections should be fair, transparent leaving no scope for any complaint from any quarter. This is the responsibility of the Election Commission. If there are apprehensions about Special Intensive Revision (SIR) then the Election Commission should call a meeting of all the political parties to explain the exercise of SIR and its objective and tell them that it was not endangering (the fairness of elections),” he said, in response to a query about the opposition’s protest against SIR.

SIR is a special voter list verification being undertaken by the Election Commission of India.

“I’m among those people who have never blamed machine (Electronic Voting Machine) (for vote-theft). Even today I don’t believe that votes can be stolen through the machine,” CM Omar said.

However, in the same breath, he maintained, “But yes, the election can be manipulated to some extent somewhere. If you see, to some extent, the process of delimitation was election manipulation. Just to please a particular party, six seats were increased in the Jammu region. Moreover, seats were increased in those segments where it could benefit that particular party.”

The Chief Minister said, “In this backdrop, probably we’ve certain apprehensions about SIR. Therefore, it will be proper for the ECI to call us for a meeting to explain the SIR process and assure us that there is nothing to feel threatened about it.”

In response to a question about the demand of J&K BJP delegation about the setting up of a “Gurukul”, raised during its meeting with the Union Health Minister J P Nadda in connection with SMVDIME admission row, the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah reiterated his earlier stance that only merit, and not religion, was the criterion for admission.

“Let them set up Gurukul. Who has stopped it? You may go ahead with the setting up of a Gurukul there. If you want to distribute seats on the basis of religion then it (SMVDU) should be declared a minority institute. We will utilize somewhere else the grant-in-aid, being given to them by the government. We don’t have any objection,” he said.

“They should pay for the land which was granted to them free of cost; stop taking grant-in-aid and change the status to minority institution. After that they can distribute seats on the basis of religion. So far, they are being governed by NEET guidelines, which only recognize merit. If your children cannot secure seats on the basis of merit, how can you blame anyone else?” CM Omar questioned.

On Tuesday, December 2, 2025, a high-level delegation of the Jammu and Kashmir Bharatiya Janata Party (J&K BJP) had sought urgent intervention of the Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare J P Nadda to find an immediate and appropriate solution to the raging controversy related to SMVDIME admission.

Referring to the gravity of the situation, they had cautioned that if the issue was not addressed promptly, a large-scale agitation could emerge in the coming days, potentially disturbing the peaceful environment of the region.

Exhortation was made by the delegation when it called on Nadda in New Delhi to discuss the growing controversy surrounding admissions to the MBBS seats in Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence (SMVDIME), Katra, run by the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (SMVDSB).