Bihar Assembly Elections 2025: BJP urges EC to verify identity of burqa-clad voters

BJP has also asked the EC that paramilitary forces be deployed in villages with a significant population of weaker sections.

New Delhi: A controversy broke out after Bihar BJP president Dilip Jaiswal on Saturday urged the Election Commission of India to put in place a system to match the faces of burqa-clad women with their voter ID cards, to ensure that only genuine voters cast their ballots. 

Jaiswal told reporters that they have asked the EC to hold the elections in one or two phases instead of spreading them out. “It is also important that the identity of voters, particularly burqa-clad women, be verified against their EPIC cards so that only authentic voters are allowed to vote,” Jaiswal told reporters.

Jaiswal made a representation in front of a delegation of the EC that had travelled to Bihar to review poll preparedness. The delegation was led by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi. 

Jaiswal also said that the BJP has asked the EC that paramilitary forces be deployed in villages with a significant population of weaker sections. “They should be deployed in areas where the population is of extremely backward classes, and they should be deployed a few days in advance. A flag march should also be conducted to instill confidence among voters,” he added.