HYDERABAD: An FIR was registered against the Hyderabad BJP candidate Madhavi Latha after she was seen in a video clip checking the voter ID cards during her visit to a polling booth.
''A case is registered in Malakpet Police Station against Madhavi Latha, contesting candidate, BJP under sections 171C, 186, 505(1)(c) of IPC and Section 132 of the Representation of the People Act," Hyderabad Collector mentioned.
AIMIM has lodged a complaint with the Election Commission of India (ECI) after a video of Madhavi Latha emrged, at a polling booth, checking the identity documents of burqa-clad women and asking them to lift their veil.
She visited many of the polling booths and at one of the polling booth in the city she halted and started checking EPIC cards of 'burqa clad' women waiting to franchise their vote. In a video, she can be seen asking a burqa-clad woman to lift the veil, which the latter does.
Madhavi Latha was seen cautioning the poll personnel about facial identification. She urged polling staff to allow voting only after thoroughly checking ID cards. She later claimed that there were discrepancies in the voter lists and that the names of several voters were missing creating discontentment among the voters whose names were deleted from the electoral rolls.
On being asked about the viral video where she is found checking IDs of voters, Madhavi Latha said, "I am a candidate. As per law, a candidate has the right to check the ID cards without the facemasks. 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 an issue out of it, I cannot help."
Meanwhile, polling for the 17 Lok Sabha seats, including the Hyderabad seat in Telangana, is underway, with voters standing in queues to exercise their franchise on Monday.
Madhavi Latha cast her vote at the Amrita Vidyalayam polling station in Hyderabad for the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections and asserted that "Sabka Sath mai hi Sabka Vikas Hai."
Madhavi Latha is pitted against a formidable opponent in the form of four-time Lok Sabha MP and AIMIM chief, Asaduddin Owaisi, from Hyderabad Lok Sabha Constituency and BRS' Gaddam Srinivas Yadav. This is the first time that the BJP has fielded a female candidate from the Hyderabad constituency.
Asaduddin Owaisi has been the elected representative from Hyderabad since 2004. He was previously elected as an MLA twice in the erstwhile undivided Andhra Pradesh.
Voting for the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections in 96 Parliamentary Constituencies across nine states and one Union Territory got underway today at 7:00 am.
(With inputs from ANI)
