# Omar Abdullah slams govt for foreign diplomat tour of J&K polls 2026-08-16T19:27:09+00:00 | Politics | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet (2 source reports) National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah on Wednesday criticised the Centre for inviting foreign diplomats to observe the ongoing Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, calling it a "guided tour" and an unnecessary intrusion into India's internal affairs. "We do not need their certificate," he said. A 15-member delegation from countries including the US, Singapore, and South Korea visited polling booths in Budgam and Srinagar at the invitation of the Ministry of External Affairs. The US diplomat Jorgen Andrews said the visit was "a rare opportunity to see democracy in action" and praised the smooth and professional process. The Singaporean diplomat Alice Cheng said the purpose was to observe polling and see how democracy works on the ground. The diplomats also expressed interest in the special pink polling booths for female voters. Apni Party chief Altaf Bukhari welcomed the move, saying it shows peaceful elections. Abdullah questioned why foreign journalists were not permitted to cover the elections while diplomats were given a tour. He said the credit for voter turnout belongs to the people, not the government. Voting is taking place on 26 seats in the second phase of the first Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. ## Coverage - thehindu.com - thehindu.com (2) This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above. Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources. Last updated 2026-09-27T06:17:37+00:00. Tags: Article 370, Jammu and Kashmir, Ministry of External Affairs, National Conference, Omar Abdullah, Rahul Gandhi Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/omar-abdullah-slams-govt-for-inviting-foreign-diplomats-to-j-k-polls/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/omar-abdullah-slams-govt-for-inviting-foreign-diplomats-to-j-k-polls/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes. How this brief was made: an AI model read the reports linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. Stance labels are editorial classifications of how each outlet framed this story, assigned by the same model, not ratings of the outlets. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/