Why Just Padma Bhushan? Give Gyanesh Kumar Bharat Ratna’: Omar Abdullah’s Dig at CEC

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday took a sarcastic dig at Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, saying he should be given the Bharat Ratna, amid criticism of the Election Commission over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.

“Why stop at Padma Bhushan? Gyanesh Kumar should be awarded Bharat Ratna or made the country’s President. Just two years are left for the presidential election. He has done so much for the BJP… entire West Bengal was gifted to BJP,” Abdullah said.

Abdullah said the Election Commission should “do some soul-searching”, arguing that opposition criticism was not without reason. He was referring to a report by The Indian Express that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had allegedly objected at least 14 times over the past 10 months to SIR-related decisions and orders issued without their knowledge or recommendation.

BJP Leader Backs CEC

West Bengal BJP chief Samik Bhattacharya recently said Kumar deserved the Padma Bhushan “at the very least”, crediting him with ensuring violence-free Assembly polls in the state and removing alleged illegal Bangladeshi voters from electoral rolls.

Bhattacharya also rejected Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s allegations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Kumar over alleged electoral irregularities.

The Padma Bhushan is India’s third-highest civilian award.