Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday, 7 October 2026, alleged that the delimitation exercise carried out in the union territory was designed to benefit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and that the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is being deployed for the same partisan purpose. His remarks came during an interaction with reporters in Srinagar.

The Delimitation Allegation

"Delimitation was done in J&K to support the BJP. They are using SIR to help the same party," Abdullah said, adding that the union territory "has already suffered" as a consequence of how the delimitation was conducted. He further alleged that while the SIR exercise is being used elsewhere in the country and could be extended to J&K, a Supreme Court notice in the matter may make it harder to misuse Form 7 to benefit the BJP.

Notably, Form 7 is the mechanism through which a voter's name can be deleted from electoral rolls. Critics have argued that politically motivated deletions via this form can skew voter lists in favour of particular parties.

The Newspaper Report and Defamation Defence

Abdullah also pointed to a report published in a leading national daily as corroboration of his allegations. "Had the report published in a leading national daily been wrong, the government would have sued the paper for defamation. That no defamation was filed against the report of the newspaper proves the report was correct," he said. This line of reasoning — inferring accuracy from the absence of legal challenge — is a recurring rhetorical device in Indian political discourse, though it does not constitute independent verification.

Cabinet Expansion on the Horizon

On the question of cabinet expansion, the Chief Minister said he would consult National Conference (NC) president Dr Farooq Abdullah after an upcoming GST Council meeting in New Delhi before deciding on additions to his council of ministers.

Under applicable rules, J&K can have a council of ten ministers including the Chief Minister. Currently, only six ministers — including Abdullah — are in place, leaving room for four more additions, along with the possibility of a reshuffle or the dropping of existing ministers.

Congress Stalemate Over Statehood

Abdullah had previously offered one cabinet berth to the Indian National Congress (Congress), which holds six seats in the 90-member Legislative Assembly. However, Tariq Hameed Karra, the J&K Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) president, has stated that Congress will not join the cabinet unless statehood is restored to Jammu and Kashmir — a condition the Centre has not yet committed to meeting.

Assembly Composition at a Glance

The current Legislative Assembly makeup has NC leading with 41 MLAs, followed by BJP at 29, Congress at 6, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at 4, and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), CPI(M), Peoples Conference (PC), and Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) at one each, with six Independents — four of whom are supporting the NC government. The political arithmetic gives Abdullah a workable but not overwhelming majority, making the cabinet expansion a delicate exercise.

With the Supreme Court already seized of the SIR matter and statehood restoration still unresolved, the political pressures on the Abdullah government are set to intensify in the weeks ahead.