Bihar BJP president wants identity of ‘parda nasheen’ women to be matched during state polls

THe Bihar building block of the Bharatiya Janata company (BJP) has requested the Election charge of republic of india to feature robust checks ensuring that only "genuine voters" are exercising their franchise in the upcoming assembly elections, as the party called for the identity of 'parda nasheen' (women under burqa) to be confirmed at the polling booths.Earlier, the Election Commission held a meeting with all political parties to discuss on the upcoming Bihar assembly elections, for which the dates are yet to be announced."We have also requested that voters, whether women or men, especially women, should get proper security. Also, the 'parda nasheen' women should also get their faces matched with the voter ID photo through women so that only genuine voters can get their right to vote", Bihar BJP president Dilip Jaiswal told reporters after the meeting.The party has also requested the poll body to conduct elections in only one or two phases, citing the disruption to institutions and the increasing expenditure to candidates and political parties."We have requested that the elections happen in one or two phases, because with more phases, expenditure gets increased and the institutions also get disrupted, so that is why a long process should not happen", Jaiswal said.Calling for ensuring proper security and confidence of the people, Jaiswal said that he requested the poll body to carry out marches of paramilitary forces in backward areas to make sure people are at ease."We have given some suggestions that just one or two days before elections happen in Bihar, the paramilitary force should be made available and marches should be taken out there so that voters are more confident that they will not be pressured", he mentioned."In the Diara and Taal areas, there should be horsemen deployed because booth capturing is more probable there. We also got some complaints that the voter slip did not reach the voters in time. We requested that the voter slip be given on time, but it should not be used for identification proof", he added.Earlier today, the Election Commission, under the chairmanship of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar held discussions with all the recognised political parties of Bihar. Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, Bihar Chief Electoral Officer Vinod Singh Gunjyal and senior officers of the Commission were also present.During the interaction, the Election Commission stated that political parties are the cornerstone of democracy and that all parties should ensure their participation at every stage of a transparent electoral process.The EC urged voters to celebrate the festival of elections with harmony and respect, and to experience the transparency of the elections. It also urged political parties to ensure that they nominate polling agents at every polling booth.Political parties thanked the EC for taking "historic, transparent, and firm" measures to purify the electoral rolls through the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and reiterated their complete commitment and faith in the electoral process. (ANI)