Long queues of burqa -clad women with babies on their shoulders waited for hours to cast the vote in Muslim-dominated areas across the city. Since early morning, Muslims came out in large numbers to cast their vote in constituencies where they have a sizeable population, namely Adarsh Nagar, Hawa Mahal and Kishanpole.

However, there were some complaints of names missing from the voters list as the day progressed. Booth mangers of major political parties have done their level best to get the Muslim voters in their favour. The parties appointed dominant figures of Muslim community in their booths to influence voters, mostly in favour of Congress party.

“There were clear instructions from Congress candidate Mahir Azad that Muslim mohallas should be taken care of by influential members of respective locality,” said Sameer Ahmed, Congress worker at Qureshio-Ka-Mohalla booth. Several Muslim faces were seen at BJP’s booths in the locality. However, they were seen busy only in areas which have a mixed population.

Muslim women, even from orthodox families, shunned their hesitation and came out in large numbers to cast their vote. “This is the only way we can express our feelings. My family can’t think of any party other than Congress despite their candidate hailing from the majority community,” said Sakeena Ali, a voter of Hawa Mahal constituency.

For other Muslim women, it’s an opportunity to hang out with their family members, after fulfilling their right to vote. “After a month, I stepped out of my house to vote. From here, I’ll go to market to eat Paani Puri with my neighbours,” said Naaz Biwi, wife of Shehzad Hussien, who works in Dubai.

At many places, voters couldn’t vote because their names were missing from the voters list. “The election officials were not ready to accept my identity proof other than the Voter Id card. Meanwhile, the officials claimed that my name was deleted, as I am dead,” said a disappointed Mustaq Raza, at Ghat gate polling booth. Similar complaints were heard from other constituencies, where the presiding officer in a booth near Babu-ka-Tiab didn’t allow people without election identity card to vote, eventhough they showed other identity proofs approved by Election Commission.