Chief Election Commissioner Teeka Ram Meena informed on Saturday that voters who wear niqab would be checked at all the booths where the re-polling would be held on Sunday.
Kannur collector Mir Muhammed Ali and Kasargod collector D. Sajith Babu informed that additional women polling officers have been deployed at the booths for this. The faces of the voters who wear niqab would be checked to match with their photographs on the voters list. This system wasn’t implemented in the election held in the state on April 23.
In Kannur, several booths for which a re-poll has been ordered falls within Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's constituency, Dharmadom.
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CPM Kannur district secretary M.V. Jayarajan had demanded that voters wearing veils shouldn’t be allowed to cast votes. His statement was condemned by the United Democratic Front and the Indian Union Muslim League. Jayarajan had made the controversial remarks while speaking at a campaign meeting of the LDF at Pilathara.
He demanded that the facial veil should be taken off while the women stand in queues when they come under the surveillance of the cameras. He also urged the Election Commission to disallow voters, who cover their faces in front of the web cameras installed in the polling booths, to cast their votes.
He said that the share of votes polled for the UDF in these booths would go down and the votes polled for the LDF would significantly increase.
LDF election committee secretary K.K. Ragesh MP too had made the same demand at the recent meeting convened by the collector in connection with the re-polling. This was opposed by K. Surendran, the chief election agent of the UDF. Jayarajan also submitted complaints to the chief election commissioner and the district collector pointing out that voters who wear veils over their faces could be identified only if they take off their niqab.