New Delhi: On a sit-in for nearly two months against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), women protesters at Shaheen Bagh voted in batches on Saturday amid heavy security so that the agitation remains unaffected. While some of the women voted in the morning, others went in the afternoon and the remaining in the evening.
Some voters complained about deletion of their names from the voters list. “A few voters could not cast their votes in Shaheen Bagh under the Okhla constituency as their names were either found deleted or incorrect in the voters list,” said a poll official.
Shaheen Bagh, in southeast Delhi, has a sizeable Muslim population and has turned into a political battlefield between AAP and BJP. “Nearly every political party was trying to polarize the election by using our name in some way or the other but we see everything. We were determined to cast our vote after seeing the political scenario which has hit a new low,” said Huzefa a first-time voter.
“We started our day knowing that it will be of double importance for us. There were some elders who were in a dilemma whether to vote or not but we urged them to come out as it is crucial for our democracy hence, every one here is voting,” she said. After casting her vote, Najma said, “I am voting for India and its Constitution. We are all citizens of India and people should come out and vote. This election almost every politician irrespective of their party shifted from the real issues like development, health and education to communalism which directly hits the basic essence of Babashahab’s Constitution.”
Amzad Qureshi, who returned to the protest site after voting, said, “I stayed at home to let the women in the house go out and vote. Now I have joined them at Shaheen Bagh I voted to secure democracy. Our agitation was about a human issue but was turned into a poll issue to serve selfish interests”. Waheeda Khan, another resident of Shaheen Bagh said, “The women here had decided a day before voting that some of them would go out for voting in the morning, while others will stay ack for chores. The others will go in the afternoon,” she said.
