A new idea of Bihar- Monday, Nov 22, 2010

A new idea of Bihar

Santosh Singh

Posted: Monday, Nov 22, 2010 at 2333 hrs IST
Updated: Monday, Nov 22, 2010 at 2333 hrs IST

(THIS KEY THEMES NEED TO BE FOLLOWED BY OTHER STATES IN THEIR ASSEMBLY ELECTION.I DO BELIEVE,AND HAD WRITTEN ABOUT IT EARLIER,PEOPLE VOTED HERE IN LARGER NUMBER THAN BEFORE,THEY VOTED FOR DEVOLOPMENTAL AND LAW AND ORDER,EDUCATION/HEALTH ISSUES INSTEAD OF JUST CASTE OR RELIGION!!!Higher turnout of women, EBCs, SCs/Development vote/The young, cutting across caste and religion, spoke of...!!!...VIBHA)


Patna: Five key themes ruled the just concluded election in Bihar that saw an overall voter turnout of 52.4% against 46.8% in the last Assembly elections. Voters defied Naxal threats, crossed rivers by engaging private boats and hired tongas in the absence of normal transport to cast their vote in this election.

Higher turnout of women, EBCs, SCs

Women voters stole the Bihar election show as is evident from the Election Commission figures of a 54.8% turnout of women against 50.7% in the case of men. In all six phases, the first half of the voting day saw a higher turnout by women, suggesting that they preferred to vote first and complete their domestic chores later.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar, who was reportedly “alarmed” by the higher vote percentage in the first phase, later attributed it to greater participation by women in response to his government’s move to grant them 50% reservations in panchayats. There are now over 4,300 woman mukhiyas in the state. During the campaign, Nitish turned to women voters at Imamganj saying: “Pehle vote dena hai, phir khana hai. Jo purush vote na de, use khana mat dejiyega (first caste your vote and then cook meals. If the menfolk do not vote, do not give them the day’s food)”.

A larger number of the state’s extremely backward castes and Scheduled Castes also came to the polling booths. During the bad old days of boothcapturing in Bihar, most of these groups were deprived of their biggest democratic right. Pollsters and politicians look at the surge differently — Nitish claims that these groups are the main beneficiaries of government welfare schemes such as free distribution of school uniforms, bicycles, radio sets, etc. Lalu Yadav and Ramvilas Paswan, however, said these were “disgruntled” voters who wanted to register their protest against the opening of liquor shops in every village and the poor quality of teachers in schools.

Development vote

This Assembly poll could signal the transition in Bihar from a primarily caste-based voting pattern to a development vote. Even though all political parties had fielded candidates on caste lines, roads and law and order were the underlying theme song of the election. This election gave a new phrase — the “Nitish road” (read good road) as against the “Digvijay road” (bad road) that failed to work for Digvijay Singh in the 2003 MP Assembly poll.

The young, cutting across caste and religion, spoke of...