Madhavi Latha checks voter ID of Muslim women at polling booth; BJP's Hyderabad candidate booked

BJP candidate Madhavi Latha, who is contesting from Hyderabad in the Lok Sabha elections, has sparked controversy after a video surfaced showing her requesting Muslim women voters to remove their burkas and verify their identities against their voter ID cards.

Hours after a video of Madhavi Latha Kompella demanding burqa-clad voters to show their faces went viral, the Malakpet police registered a case against her.

Hyderabad Collector, in a post on X, said that a case has been registered against BJP leader Madhavi Latha in Malakpet Police Station under sections 171C, 186, 505(1)(c) of IPC and Section 132 of the Representation of the People Act.

Meanwhile, in defense of her actions, Latha told ANI, "I am a candidate. As per law, the candidate has the right to check the ID cards without the facemasks. I am not a man, 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 a big issue out of it, that means they are scared."

Earlier in the day, Latha also alleged discrepancies in the voter list. "The Police personnel seem very dull, they are not active...They are not checking anything. Senior citizen voters are coming here but their names are deleted from the list. A few of them are residents of Goshamahal but their names are in the list of Rangareddy," She told ANI.

Commenting on the electoral process after casting her vote at the Amrita Vidyalayam polling station in , Latha said, "Sabka Sath mai hi Sabka Vikas Hai." 

Latha is challenging a significant opponent, AIMIM chief and four-time Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi, as well as candidate Gaddam Srinivas Yadav. 

Notably, this election marks the first instance of BJP fielding a female