Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Saket Gokhale on Monday accused Election Commission of India of "doing everything to ensure that the BJP can rig elections in its favor." He further claimed that the poll body is "openly complicit with the BJP." He shared the video clip of BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate for Hyderabad, K Madhavi Latha on his official X hanlde. In the video, Latha can be seen checking the identity documents of burqa-clad women and asking them to lift their veil at a polling booth.
Taking to X, Gokhale stated: "Can we say we’re a “democracy” anymore? We need answers ECI . This is Unacceptable."
After this video emerged, Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM filed a complaint against his oponnent with the Election Commission of India.
In the ongoing election showdown in Hyderabad, Latha and Owaisi are competing against each other. In the previous Lok Sabha elections, Owaisi secured a significant victory in this constituency.
On voting day, Latha, after casting her own vote at Amrita Vidyalaya, visited multiple polling booths. She made a stop at a polling booth in Azampur, where she began checking the IDs of women queued up to vote. In a video circulating online, Latha can be observed requesting a woman wearing a burqa to lift her veil, which the woman complies with.
Latha further instructed polling officials to ensure that voting proceeded only after thorough verification of ID cards. Additionally, she raised concerns about discrepancies in the voter list, noting that the names of numerous voters were absent.
Latha's involvement in controversy is not unfamiliar. On April 17, a video surfaced allegedly showing her symbolically shooting an arrow towards a mosque during the Sri Rama Navami rally. Following the incident, she issued an apology, asserting that the video clip was incomplete.