SP fumes over burqa checks; writes to EC

Lucknow: A day before polling for the nine Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party (SP) has raised concerns with the Election Commission (EC) regarding the treatment of Muslim women voters. In a letter submitted on Monday, the SP urged the EC to ensure that the Muslim women are not asked to remove their burqas for identification during voting.

The party also demanded that police officers deployed at polling stations be restricted from checking voter ID cards, emphasising that this is the sole responsibility of polling officers.

Citing incidents from the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the SP alleged that police officials intimidated Muslim women voters by forcing them to remove their burqas, leading many to leave without voting. According to the party, this resulted in a significant decline in voter turnout at several polling stations.

The by-elections, set for Wednesday, from 7 am to 5 pm, are a prestige battle for both the ruling BJP and the Opposition SP. Although the results will not affect the government’s stability, they are politically significant, coming on the heels of the SP-Congress alliance’s strong performance against the BJP-led NDA in the recent Lok Sabha elections.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has taken a personal interest in the by-elections, assigning specific responsibilities for the nine seats to his ministers as early as July. The BJP is contesting eight seats, while its ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) is contesting one seat in Meerapur.