Around 6 pm on Wednesday, Dr Lubna Sarwath was distributing pamphlets as part of her door-to door campaign in Hyderabad’s Asifnagar, when she was followed, threatened and asked to leave from the area. Narrating the ordeal to TNM, Lubna alleged, “AIMIM party persons threatened and disallowed me, a contesting candidate, to campaign in Asifnagar ward. My team, consisting of five people, and I had to return home, cutting our campaign short, as they were following us.”
‘Zero corruption, zero muscle power, zero encroachments and zero fear’ are some of the issues on which Lubna is asking for votes in the Asifnagar division for the upcoming Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections. “This kind of behaviour is exactly what I am fighting against. What sort of a free and fair election is this?” she asked.
Lubna took to Twitter to share a video of the harassment.
— Dr Lubna Sarwath (@LubnaSarwath) November 25, 2020
Following the incident, Lubna informed the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Asifnagar Station House Officer and also the SHE Teams about the harassment. She said, “They have assured me police protection. I asked for police protection for 14 hours, from 8 am to 10 pm, which are the official hours for campaigning. They have only given me police protection from 2 pm to 4 pm. With only four days to go for the election, how will I campaign for only two hours a day?”
This is not the first time that Lubna, a well-known activist in the city, has been threatened for filing her nomination for an election. “In 2018, when I contested the MLA elections, sitting MLA Kausar Mohiuddin from the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) party asked me not to contest the election. On the day of voting, when I urged the woman polling officer to check the veiled faces of the women voting, the MLA and 10 others barged inside the booth and threatened me.”
While speaking to TNM, Lubna was heading to the Asifnagar police station to file a written complaint against those who threatened her and also to request the SHO for police protection, so that she could continue with her election campaigning. Lubna is contesting for the corporator’s position in Asifnagar and is standing as an Independent candidate. She has been a vocal conservationist and an ex-convenor of Save Our Urban Lakes (SOUL).