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Lucknow, Oct 14 (IANS) Following the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) direction regarding identification of women voters wearing burqa, the decision has sparked controversy with the Samajwadi Party (SP) saying it undermines transparent, free and fair elections. However, BJP has defended the decision.
According to the Election Commission, Anganwadi workers will be deployed at polling stations to help verify the identity of women voters wearing burqa.
However, the directive has drawn sharp criticism from the SP, who has called it discriminatory and unconstitutional and urged the ECI to immediately withdraw the order.
SP Uttar Pradesh president Shyam Lal Pal submitted a memorandum addressed to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to the state’s Chief Electoral Officer, saying the directive violates existing ECI rules and unfairly targets a specific community.
Pal said in the memorandum, “Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar has issued a new instruction contrary to the rules of the Election Commission of India, raising questions on the impartiality and transparency of the Commission. This new rule targets voters of a particular community in the country; it is undemocratic and unconstitutional. The decision of the Election Commission is wrong; the new instruction targets a particular community.”
Responding to SP’s criticism, Uttar Pradesh minister Anil Rajbhar hit back, accusing the party of politicizing the issue for vote bank gains.
“Why are you worried? Is your politics dependent on fake voters? What are you really worried about? The identity of every voter who goes to vote should be verified. If the Election Commission wants to implement such a system, who should object? If the voter is a woman, a woman officer will verify her identity, so what’s the problem?” Rajbhar told IANS.
“They get upset only when action is taken against infiltrators. The ECI is trying to remove fake voters from the voter list through SIR and they have a problem with that too. Very soon, the public is going to give them a befitting reply,” he said.
Supporting the SP’s stand, party MP Awadhesh Prasad said, “I support the decision to write a letter to the ECI demanding withdrawal of those rules.”
–IANS
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