Hyderabad: The Congress candidate from Nampally has urged the Hyderabad High Court to issue a direction to the Election Commission to take steps to identify burqa-clad women when they come to vote in the December 7 Assembly elections. He sought necessary steps to remove the veil, particularly in the Nampally constituency.
The candidate, Mr Mohammed Feroz Khan, moved the petition before the High Court, alleging that with the help of the MIM there were 1,15,547 bogus voters in his constituency, most of them are Muslim women whose photographs were embossed on the voter ID cards wearing burqas with their faces covered.
He said, most of them belonged to Karnataka and Maharashtra and came only for the purpose of casting bogus votes.
The petitioner told the court that there was an earlier instance of a male constable being booked under IPC Section 354 (assault or criminal force on women to outrage her modesty) when he tried to ask a burqa-clad woman to lift the veil to identify her.
He requested the deployment of women constables inside polling booths to prevent largescale impersonation of Muslim women in the Nampally constituency. He requested the court to issue directions to instal CCTV cameras and digital cameras in polling booths.
He also sought personal security of 2+2 Armed Reserve police constables for himself. This petition might be heard by the High Court on Tuesday.
