Woman official to verify Kerala nikab wearing voters

Kerala Chief Electoral Officer Teeka Ram Meena on Saturday said a woman poll official would verify women voters, coming to polling booths with faces covered.

Seven booths in Kasargode and Kannur Lok Sabhaconstituencies will undergo re-poll on Sunday. Kerala voted on April 23 for all20 parliamentary seats.

   

A war of words broke out earlier between the Communist Partyof India-Marxist (CPI-M) and the Congress on the issue.

While Kannur CPI-M District Secretary M.V. Jayarajan raisedconcerns about women covering their face while coming to vote, CPI-M stateSecretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said the polling agent had to identify a voter,hence it was not right to use ‘nikab’ — a piece of cloth worn by some Muslimwomen to cover the face except eyes — during voting.

Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala reacted by sayingit’s shame for the CPI-M to have come out with this theory that a Muslim womanvoter should not wear ‘nikab’.”What one wears is one’s choice and theCPI-M has lost its bearings in making such comments. They have realised thepoll outcome would be a setback for them. They should withdraw this andapologise for such remark,” the Congress leader said.

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