Sakshi Maharaj turned up the rhetoric on Friday by saying that women should be deployed at polling booths in the last two phases to check the identity of burkha-clad voters
BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj turned up the rhetoric on Friday by saying that women should be deployed at polling booths in the last two phases to check the identity of burkha-clad female voters. He was quoted saying by ABP News: ““Women security personnel should be deployed at booths to check persons coming to vote in a burqa.”
Earlier, in a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner on Thursday, the party said, "The BJP demands that to establish the identity of burqa-clad female voters in the sixth and seventh phase of the UP polls, women police and central paramilitary forces be posted at sensitive and hyper-sensitive polling booths".
Many of the constituencies going to polls in the last two phase fall in Muslim-dominated areas. Ahead of polling in the sixth and seventh phases of Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, which has a sizeable Muslim population in several pockets, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has written to the Election Commission seeking a check on burqa-clad voters as a measure to curb bogus voting. The party has sought deployment of women police personnel at polling booths to check voter-IDs of burqa-clad voters.
Forty-nine constituencies spread over seven districts of Maharajganj, Kushinagar, Gorakhpur, Deoria, Azamgarh, Mau and Ballia, will go to polls in the sixth phase on March 4 while voting in the seventh and last phase, which has 40 constituencies spread over seven districts, will take place on March 8.
"The request has been made to ensure fair and transparent voting at all polling booths," state BJP spokesperson Chandra Mohan said.
The letter sent on Wednesday to Chief Election Commissioner of Lucknow, says, "A large number of burqa-clad women come to cast votes in the assembly elections and to ensure proper verification, it is essential to deploy women police personnel to curb bogus voting." Earlier, Sakshi Maharaj said that laws should be enforced to stop the construction of Kabristaans (graveyards) and Muslims should also be cremated since there is not enough land for graveyards.
"Whether it is named Kabristaan (graveyard) or Shamshaan (crematoriums), nobody needs to be buried. There are 2-2.5 crore Hindu saints in this country who should have a memorial after their death. That will require land. There are 20 crore Muslims, all of them need a grave. Where is the land in Hindustan?" he said while addressing a public rally in Unnao.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Modi while addressing elections rally in Fatehpur raised the issue of Kabristaan and Shamshaan, saying that there should not be any discrimination in the allotment of land for both.
"If you create Kabristaan in a village, then a Shamshaan should also be created. If there is uninterrupted electricity in Ramzan, it should also be given during Diwali. There should be no discrimination," he said.
With inputs from agencies
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