Omar Abdullah on Friday termed the special intensive revision of rolls “vote theft”, warning it could affect the 2026 Bengal Legislative Assembly election, and backed Mamata Banerjee’s call to guard EVMs before counting day.

The Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said that if the SIR of Bengal’s electoral rolls affects the state’s poll outcome, it would set a dangerous precedent, which the Opposition parties, need to safeguard against.

"There is a difference between EVM (hacking) and what they are doing through SIR. Today, stealing (votes) is not happening through EVMs but the SIR, unfortunately, through the Election Commission," Abdullah noted.

"This West Bengal election is a huge challenge for all of us because, God forbid, if the SIR shows its results, it can be very dangerous for all of us. We have to save ourselves from their attempt to rig the election by deleting voters from the voter list. I do not think anything can be done through the EVMs," he added.

Responding to a question about the high drama outside a strong room at Bhabanipur in Kolkata on Thursday night, Abdullah said, "I have always said that I do not accept pre-poll rigging, and that safeguarding the EVMs after the polls is our responsibility. We used to do the same when there were ballot boxes; we would keep our people outside the strong room. So, it was Mamata Banerjee's right to keep people outside the strong room, and she did it," to reporters.

Abdullah also echoed Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s rejection of the exit polls, confident that the polls, which have mostly projected a narrow BJP victory over the ruling Trinamool, would be proven wrong when the results come out on Monday.

"Which exit poll has been right till now? Five years ago, when the elections took place in West Bengal, all the exit polls had given the government to the BJP. But what was the result? We do not have to wait for long; the results will come on Monday," he clarified.

The TMC supremo had linked the exit polls to the BJP’s attempt to delay the share market “landslide” and claimed that the Trinamool will cross 226 seats in this election.

Taking a subtle dig at My India Axis poll, which has cited “an atmosphere of fear” for not releasing their exit poll data, Abdullah said, "One of them has refused to publish his exit poll because perhaps he did not like the results."