What 5-judge SC bench did can be overruled by 7-judge bench, says Omar Abdullah on Article 370

Srinagar:  Former J&K Chief Minister and vice president of National Conference (NC), Omar Abdullah said on Tuesday that the abrogation of Article 370 upheld by the 5-judge bench of the Supreme Court can be overruled by a larger bench of the apex court.

“Nothing is impossible and the verdict given by the Supreme Court on Article 370 abrogation can be overruled by a larger bench in future,” Abdullah told reporters in Budgam.

He said nothing is impossible as the decision to abrogate Article 370 was not God’s decision, but that of the people sitting in Parliament.

The NC leader said that three previous decisions of the Supreme Court have been changed by the 5-judge bench and this can also be changed by a 7-judge bench in future.

“You can blame us for the reasons where we went wrong, but now the Centre has been directly ruling J&K for the last 10 years…who is responsible for the situation in Jammu,” he said.

Omar Abdullah’s statement came a day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah said in BJP poll rallies in Kishtwar, Ramban and Paddar-Nagseni that Article 370 is gone permanently and no power on the earth can bring it back.

He is fighting assembly elections from two constituencies, Budgam in central Budgam district and Ganderbal in north Kashmir district of Ganderbal. In both these constituencies, Abdullah faces PDP candidates as his main rivals although in Ganderbal there are 22 other candidates also in the fray.

The NC is fighting the J&K Assembly election in a pre-poll alliance with the Congress. These two parties have decided that the NC will field candidates for 52 seats and the Congress for 31 seats.

Both parties have left one seat in the Valley for CPI(M) and one in the Jammu division for Panthers Party.

On five seats, both parties have decided to field candidates, who will engage in friendly contests.

After fresh delimitation of constituencies, J&K has 90 seats, 47 in the Kashmir division and 43 in the Jammu division. Out of these, nine are ST and seven SC seats.

–IANS