‘If you pay…’: Omar Abdullah on why he called exit polls a ‘waste of time’

Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) vice-president Omar Abdullah on Tuesday reiterated his view on exit polls being a “waste of time” as the counting of votes is underway for the Jammu and Kashmir assembly election. According to Abdullah, if anyone “wastes time” even discussing the exit polls, then they “deserve the ridicule”. Follow live updates
“If you pay for exits polls or waste time discussing them, you deserve all the jokes/memes/ridicule. There was a reason I called them a waste of time a few days ago,” Abdullah wrote in a post on X.
On Saturday, when the exit poll results were being declared, Abdullah had said that he is “amazed” how channels are bothering with exit polls after the general elections “fiasco”. The remark was in reference to the failed exit poll predictions in the recently-held Lok Sabha elections when it showed a majority win for the BJP. However, the BJP fell short of the majority instead, but due to the alliance, the NDA was able to form a government.
“I’m amazed channels are bothering with exit polls especially after the fiasco of the recent general elections. I’m ignoring all the noise on channels, social media, WhatsApp Etc because the only numbers that matter will be revealed on the 8th of Oct. The rest is just time pass,” he wrote on X.
According to the Election Commission, the Jammu & Kashmir National Conference and the BJP have won two seats each so far – While the JKN is leading with 43 seats, the BJP is trailing with 28 seats. The Congress is leading in six seats.
Meanwhile, Abdullah, 54, is leading in both Budgam and Ganderbal seats, according to initial trends.
The assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir is the first ever since the abrogation of Article 370 in the Valley.