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Journalism of Courage
At Haji Ghulam Mohd Azam Urdu Primary School in Pune’s Bhawani Peth, an extra officer is verifying the identity of women voters. As a burqa-clad woman approaches, she stands up and asks her to lift her veil. Once her identity is confirmed, she is asked to go ahead and cast her vote in one of the three booths.
This is one of the 96 polling stations set up in Pune district that District Collector Suhas Diwase calls “pardanashin” booths—an arrangement made to help Muslim women clad in face veils to vote in adherence to their socio-religious norms during the Maharashtra Assembly elections.
Such booths are established in areas with sizeable Muslim populations, where face veils often make the verification of women voters’ identity a difficult task for election officials. A trained woman officer is deployed in such booths for the purpose.
“These are all part of a process meant to make democracy accessible to everyone. The ‘pardanashin’ booths’ are conceptualised keeping in mind the socio-religious norms,” an officer associated with one of the booths said.
Of the 96 “pardanashin” booths in Pune district, the majority are in the Kondhwa, Hadapsar and Bhawani Peth areas of the city. Some booths in Kasba Peth are also designated as “pardanashin”.
