‘Mostari Banu vs. The Election Commission of India.’ This is the heading on the Supreme Court of India’s record of proceedings for one of the most consequential legal battles in recent history.
It is the story of a 44-year-old homemaker from a remote village at Bhagwangola in Murshidabad who initiated the first legal challenge in this battle. Before Mamata Banerjee Came Mostari Banu: A Homemaker From a Bengal Village is Forcing the ECI to Blink - The Wire
Mostari Banu was quietly filing the first petition to challenge the ECI’s controversial directive requiring passport-sized photographs on voter enumeration forms. “I am a Muslim woman. In our religion, many women prefer to cover their heads and foreheads. It is a matter of our parda and our modesty. When the authorities insist on baring what we have always kept private, it creates fear. I went to the court to ensure that no woman has to choose between her voting rights and her religious obligations,” Mostari tells The Wire.
On November 10, 2025, barely hours before her petition was scheduled for its first hearing, the ECI performed a sudden U-turn. In a formal clarification, the Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal, announced that attaching a photograph was not, in fact, mandatory, directly contradicting the Chief Election Commissioner’s earlier public urgings.
by Aparna Bhattacharya
08/02/2026