New Delhi, October 16 (IANS). The Election Commission of India (ECI) has decided to implement former Chief Election Commissioner TN Seshan’s 1994 decision regarding ‘Pardanashin’ (burqa-wearing) women in the Bihar Assembly elections.
Citing the ECI order ‘General Elections to State Legislatures (1994) Special Facilities at Polling Stations for Women Voters’, the Commission stressed that the 1994 decisions of former Chief Election Commissioner TN Seshan are being implemented for women voters in Bihar.
In 1994, TN Seshan had issued special guidelines directing polling officers to make such arrangements while respecting such sensitivities, so that women could exercise their franchise without any fear or identity challenges.
As per the 1994 order of the former Chief Election Commissioner, the Chief Electoral Officer, District Returning Officer, Returning Officer, Assistant Returning Officer and Presiding Officer are responsible to ensure that special arrangements are made for women voters to vote in the presence of lady staff.
The order said that where the number of women voters is high (about 50 percent or more) and they follow the practice of burqa or purdah as a social tradition, at least one polling officer should be a woman at every such polling station.
The order also said, “If women officers are not available in sufficient numbers, the Returning Officer or Presiding Officer has the power under Rule 34(2) to appoint a woman as an assistant at the polling station.”
Let us tell you that assembly elections are being conducted in two phases in Bihar. Voting will be held in the first phase on 6 November and in the second phase on 11 November. After this, the results of Bihar Assembly elections will be declared on 14 November.
–IANS
DCH/DKP