A Bharatiya Janata Party polling agent on Saturday disrupted Tamil Nadu urban local body polls voting at a booth in Madurai as he demanded the verification of the identity of a woman voter wearing a hijab, reported The Indian Express.

The incident took place at a polling booth in Melur municipality at Al Ameen High School in ward number eight. The man was identified as the BJP booth in charge Girirajan.

A video shared widely on social media showed Girirajan shouting that “irregularities” were taking place and that he would raise the matter. “How can I cross verify the person wearing hijab with the photos in this [voters] list?” he was heard saying in the video.

Though election officials told Girirajan that the woman’s identity had been verified, he refused to listen to them.

After the ruckus, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam booth workers intervened. Girirajan was later removed from the premises based on the polling officer’s directions, The Indian Express reported.

State Election Commissioner V Palanikumar said he had spoken to the district collector who will carry out an investigation and submit a report. Palanikumar added that “necessary” action will be initiated.

“It is their freedom,” Palanikumar said, according to The Indian Express. Palanikumar underlined that India is a secular country and the Constitution states this clearly as well.

The developments came at a time when Muslim students and teachers are being forced to remove their hijabs in Karnataka.

Last week, Hindu students and mobs of men protested against them wearing headscarves in classrooms at several places in the state. At some colleges, Muslim students were heckled, while in another case, some men climbed up a flagpole to plant a saffron flag and broke into classrooms.

The Karnataka High Court in an interim order has barred the students of the state from wearing “religious clothes” in schools and colleges until it decides on petitions challenging the hijab ban in educational institutes.