BJP poster girl in Kashmir Hina Bhat allegedly slaps polling officer, another candidate thrashes voter

In an embarrassment to Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), its poster girl in Kashmir valley and Amria Kadal candidate Hina Bhat on Sunday allegedly slapped an on-duty Polling Officer in uptown Chanapora.

Sources said Hina entered into a heated argument with the polling staff at a polling station in Chanapora in Amriakadal constituency, from where she is trying her luck, and allegedly slapped an on-duty officer.

Taking to micro-blogging site Twitter, Chief Minister and National Conference (NC) working president Omar Abdullah said, “The BJP candidate in Srinagar who earlier threatened to pick up a gun over Art 370 now slaps a polling officer. Well done.”

However, District Election Officer, Srinagar, Farooq Ahmad Bhat said, “There was an altercation between the candidate and some polling staff but the issue has been resolved and the candidate has left the polling station.”

Sources said that Hina, who is daughter of Mohammad Shafi Bhat, who represented the Amira Kadal constituency in 1996 and became MP from Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency on National Conference ticket, had to face wrath of ruling NC workers who witnessed the alleged assault on the polling officer.

Meanwhile, another BJP candidate Javed Ahmad Qadri on Sunday allegedly thrashed a voter inside a polling station.

Qadri, who is seeking mandate from Shopian constituency, thrashed an unidentified person in presence of the polling staff inside the polling station at Moochwad in south Kashmir claiming that he had entered the booth without the vote slip.

However, justifying his actions, Qadri accused the PDP and NC workers of committing malpractices in the elections.