SRINAGAR, Oct. 12 -- Jammu and Kashmir Leader of Opposition Sunil Sharma on Monday accused the Abdullah family of electoral rigging in the 1987 Assembly elections, alleging that the mandate of the people was stolen to install Farooq Abdullah as chief minister.

Addressing reporters in Srinagar, Sharma described the 1987 elections as one of the darkest chapters in Jammu and Kashmir's electoral history and said the Abdullah family should answer for the alleged malpractice.

He claimed that fair and transparent elections in Jammu and Kashmir had been held under the prime ministerships of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Narendra Modi, while accusing the Congress of electoral malpractice in the Union Territory.

Sharma also alleged that a former depu...