New Delhi: BJP’s request to the Election Commission to depute women police officers at polling booths in Uttar Pradesh in the remaining two phases to screen burqa-clad women drew sharp criticism, including from its estranged ally Shiv Sena.

The party was also slammed by the All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board, which described it as BJP’s “strange demand” to polarise the elections.

The Shiv Sena also took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “entire Cabinet” campaigning in UP, saying it was because the BJP was “nervous.” Rejecting claims of polarisation, BJP Gorakhpur MP Yogi Adityanath said the apprehension is not regarding burqa but to ensure that women exercise their right. “Some radicalists do not allow the women to exercise their franchise and misuse their right,” he said and claimed that such complaints had come from the western UP where polling took place in the first and second phases.

Echoing a similar view, BJP’s controversial MP Sakshi Maharaj claimed of receiving “many complaints in this regard” and said that “burqa is misused, not only by Muslims but Hindus too.”