EC plan for burqa women voters: As soon as the Bihar assembly election dates were announced, an old but sensitive issue has again come into the discussion: verification of the identity of women who vote in the burqa. In the last elections, there has been a huge uproar on this issue from Uttar Pradesh to West Bengal and Delhi. The workers of opposing parties had doubted identity and stopping voting had become a common spectacle, due to which the matter reached the Supreme Court. But this time, the Election Commission (EC) has taken out a smart solution, which will neither be a ruckus nor any obstruction in voting.
Why was there an uproar every time? What was the old dispute?
In the last elections, when women covered in the burqa arrived at the voting booth, the employees on duty often expressed doubts about identity. They used to allege that no fake or other person is casting votes somewhere under the guise of the burqa.
Uttar Pradesh (2022): During the assembly elections, the uproar in many places had increased so much that voting had to be stopped.
West Bengal (2021): There was a sharp noise on this issue between TMC and BJP workers here.
Delhi: In some areas, people had questioned voting without verifying identity.
These disputes not only disrupted the voting process due to these disputes, but also many times a violation of the privacy of women wearing burqas, when they were pressurized to publicly identify.
Supreme court guidelines were also not applicable
On reaching the court, the Supreme Court had given clear guidelines on this to maintain both privacy and transparency. The court had said that Valid ID (Voter ID or Aadhaar) is necessary to verify the identity of the voter.
The main guideline of the court was: “If the woman is in the burqa, a female officer will check the identity privately (alone), without the intervention of the crowd.” The court had also given strict instructions that the confidentiality of voting should be upheld. But at the ground level, it was difficult to implement these guidelines due to lack of adequate female officers or political pressure.
Masterstroke of EC: ‘local’ servants at every booth
The Election Commission has found a unique solution to all these difficulties for this time Bihar elections. At the time of the announcement of Bihar elections, when the Chief Election Commissioner was asked questions on this sensitive issue, he informed about the new solution. CEC said that the Commission has decided that Anganwadi servants will be deployed at every polling booth.
Local identity: These Anganwadi servants will be well-known locally, which will lead to more credibility.
Privacy and verification: It will be their responsibility to check the identity of women with burqas. The most important thing is that if a woman is suspected, then surely these female servants will remove the burqa and examine it, but the whole process will be concluded by ensuring privacy (alone).
This move of the Commission will not only make the identity verification of women wearing a burqa easier, but will also prove to be effective in preventing fake voting. At the same time, unnecessary uproar and controversies will also be curbed like the previous elections. It will be interesting to see how much this ‘smart solution’ of EC is applied in Bihar with so much success.