As per this Fatwa a woman can contest the election but from behind a Burqa.
How long these brokers of religion will continue cursing Muslim women?
http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=52906
Women to contest only within burqa
Muzaffarnagar, August 17: In yet another controversial fatwa, Islamic seminary Darul Uloom has ruled that Muslim women should not contest elections and if they have to do they must do it under veil, evoking sharp reactions from political parties.
“Muslim women are not allowed to appear before men without a veil and under The islamic law ‘pardanashin’ women are only allowed to contest elections,” the Darool Uloom of Deoband said in the edict issued on Tuesday.
It said those who are contesting panchayat elections must cover their faces.
Various political parties have reacted sharply to the edict with Congress leader and Law Minister H.R. Bharadwaj saying edicts coming from the religious groups have no significance under the Constitution and it is upto the people whether they want to abide by them or not.
Congress MP Rashid Alvi said if Muslim women do not contest elections entire community will lag behind. They have to progress if the country has to progress.
CPM leader Sitaram Yechury condemned it by saying the Constitution has given women equal rights as their male counterpart and we will not let this right be infringed.
Calling the edict wrong, BJP vice-president Venkaiah Naidu said women should get equal rights in every sphere. When the world is progressing, this kind of edict is wrong.
The fatwa has come at a time when hundreds of Muslim women are contesting panchayat elections in Uttar Pradesh and 33 per cent seats have been reserved for women in the local bodies.