New Delhi (TIP)- All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi on Wednesday, May 22, accused Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of targeting Muslim women and creating hurdles for them during the voting process. The Delhi unit of the BJP has called for “proper verification” of women voters wearing burqas.
“The Delhi unit of the BJP has told the Election Commission that there should be a special checking of women in burqas. During the recent Lok Sabha elections in Telangana, their candidate publicly insulted and harassed Muslim women. In every election, the BJP finds some excuse or the other to harass and target Muslim women,” Asaduddin Owaisi said in an X post.
Earlier, the Delhi BJP delegation met with the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) on Wednesday, urging for thorough verification of women voters wearing ‘burqa’ or face masks during the polling on May 25, with a specific request for female officials to conduct the verification process.
The delegation, consisting of BJP MLAs Ajay Mahawar and Mohan Singh Bisht, State secretary Kishan Sharma, and lawyer Neeraj Gupta, asked the CEO to verify and cross-check the identities of burqa-clad voters in view of “larger public interest”, especially in those constituencies “where the number of burqa-wearing women voters is high”.
“A large number of burqa-clad women visit polling booths for voting. Hence, their identity needs to be verified through appropriate government-mandated identity cards allowed for casting votes to prevent bogus voting,” the memorandum read.
The Election Commission of India’s handbook for presiding officers of the election also details steps to be followed by them to verify an elector’s identity, it added.
The party’s demand comes amid a recent controversy over BJP candidate for Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat Madhavi Latha being booked by election authorities for allegedly making burqa-clad voters show their faces for verification.
Owaisi said that the poll body has clear rules to not allow anyone vote without verification. He accused the BJP of harassing Muslim women with the “special demand”.
“The Election Commission has clear rules and regulations for women who do not observe purdah, whether they are in burqa or veil or mask, no one is allowed to vote without verification, so why did the BJP have to make such a special demand? Just target Muslim women, harass them and create obstacles in voting,” he said.
In a separate incident, a case has been filed against Madhavi Latha, the BJP candidate for the Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat after a purported video surfaced showing her inspecting the voter ID cards of Muslim women at a polling booth. The case includes charges under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Representation of the People Act.
All seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi will go to polls on May 25. The election results will be announced on June 4.
‘Targeting Muslim women’: Owaisi on BJP’s demand for verification of burqa-clad voters
