Lok Sabha Elections 2024: BJP's Madhavi Latha asks to see Muslim women's faces in Telangana poll booth; case registered

'I have only requested them - can I please see and verify with the ID cards,' she said.

Hyderabad: BJP candidate for Hyderabad Lok Sabha Kompella Madhavi Latha was on Monday booked by election authorities after a video clip surfaced in which she was purportedly asking burqa-clad women Muslim voters to show their faces to compare with the photo identity cards they were carrying.

Malakpet Police had registered a case against Madhavi Latha, under sections 171C, 186, 505(1)(c) of IPC and Section 132 of the Representation of the People Act.

At one of the polling booths in Hyderabad's old city she was seen checking the ID cards of the burqa clad women and also asking them to open their veil. At one place she was seen suspecting the age of a voter by looking at the photo in the ID card and the face.

While there has been online hype ever since BJP had announced that entrepreneur and social worker Madhavi Latha would take on AIMIM MP, Asaduddin Owaisi, she had courted controversy during campaign after a video came out in which she was seen purportedly aiming an imaginary arrow towards a mosque in old city. While the incident was condemned by Owaisi terming it as inciting religious sentiments, election authorities at that time too booked a case against her. She said the video was doctored and there was no mosque in the area when she had mimed the action of shooting an arrow.

Section 171C, under which Latha has been booked, deals with interference or attempts to interfere with the free exercise of any electoral right. The other Section 186 is related to voluntarily obstructing any public servant in the discharge of public function, while 505 is applied for inciting or likely to incite, any class or community of persons to commit any offence against any other class or community. She had been seen getting into an argument with a poll official.

During the campaign she had also alleged that Owaisi had been winning due to bogus voting.

Notably, Nizamabad BJP candidate and sitting MP Dharmapuri Aravind was also seen questioning the returning officer and whether the identity cards of the burqa-clad women were being verified while alleging chances of bogus voting.

Jusitfying her actions of 'checking' burqa-clad women voters, Latha said, "I am a candidate. As per law candidate has the right to check the ID cards without the facemasks. I am not a man, I am a woman and with a lot of humbleness, I have only requested them - can I please see and verify with the ID cards. If somebody wants to make a big issue out of it, that means they are scared...". She was also seen telling the policemen to allow voters into polling booths only after a thorough check.

Polling for the total 17 Lok Sabha seats was underway in Telangana at the time of the incident.

(With PTI inputs)