In his white kurta and dhoti, Biranchi Paswan, 75, looks every bit a politician. Nephew of Bihar’s first Dalit Chief Minister Bhola Paswan Shastri, Biranchi, a small farmer, has never dabbled in politics, but the Election Commission’s ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) has given him a cause.
These days, he has been rallying people in Bairgachhi, a village that’s barely six km from Purnia town and the ancestral base of his famous uncle, to ensure that every elector whose name has made it to the draft roll submits her documents to one of the three Booth Level Officers (EC-appointed BLOs) in the village.
As part of the second phase of the SIR, electors have time until September 1 to raise claims and objections to the draft roll (published on August 1) and to upload one of the 11 EC-mandated identity documents in order to make it to the final draft roll.
Of the 2,200 electors in Bairgachhi, most are from the Scheduled Caste Paswan community, followed by sizeable numbers from the Extremely Backward Classes and the Muslim population. The village is part of Dhamdaha Assembly segment represented by JD(U)’s Lesi Singh, also a minister in the Nitish Kumar government.
For now, the two-storeyed ancestral home of the late Bhola Paswan Shastri — who served as state CM thrice for brief tenures between 1968 and 1972 — has been converted into an informal camp where people gather throughout the day, helping each other with the documents that need to be uploaded ahead of September 1.
Biranchi Paswan engages villagers in discussions on the “importance of being a voter”, telling them they would benefit from government schemes and that politicians would value them only if they stayed voters. “We hardly see Booth Level Agents (BLAs) of any political party here. We work in close coordination with the three BLOs in the village and also with some politically aware people of the village. Three cyber cafes in and around the village have been assisting people for a month now in getting the residential certificates that people need to submit. Such is the level of awareness that BLOs do not need to remind people about submitting their papers. Instead, people come on their own,” says Paswan as the others listen intently.
Barely a few metres from the former CM’s house, Ward Number 1 BLO Mahesh Paswan says, “Of the 669 voters in my ward, 353 are on the voters’ list. I only have 110 pending forms. Almost all of these are of people who have been waiting for their residential certificates. We still have a lot of time. I hope for 100% form submission, thanks to the active participation of villagers.”
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Two women walk in, one with her residential certificate, another with a screenshot of the 2003 voter list. One of them says, “Unless we stay voters, we may not get benefits from the government. Who knows, what if in the future they say the 5-kg free ration scheme is only for those with voter ID cards?”
About 95 per cent people in the village get free ration. Most of the villagers are daily wagers, some ply e-rickshaws in Purnia town.
Nawal Kishore, a teacher who is BLO of Ward number 2, is ready to return home after 10 hours in the field. “I have been out since 7 am to collect documents. Of the 786 voters in this ward, 340 are on the 2003 voter list. So far, 557 forms have been submitted. I hope to get 100% compliance. Most people have got residential certificates made. The villagers are co-operative – they are aware of the SIR deadline and are working towards that.”
Back at the former CM’s house, Biranchi Paswan is busy discussing politics with a group of villagers – the impact, if any, of the SIR on the elections that are due later this year, the sitting JD(U) MLA’s chances, and the new player in the ring, Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party. “We don’t know how well the party is going to fare, but Prashant Kishor is definitely being discussed in villages. All the bigger parties should take note of it,” Paswan says. At this, another villager says, “nobody can ignore us Paswans. We can’t be seen as the pocket borough of any political party.”
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Barely two km away, in the same Assembly segment, in Ward Number 11, is Mushahar Toli – a neighbourhood that’s a world removed from the Paswans’ Bairgachhi village.
Of the 19.65% Dalit population in Bihar, Paswans lead with 5.3 per cent; Mushahars and their allied castes account for about 3% of the state population.
Ward 11, with its narrow lanes and thatched mud houses, has over 200 Mushahars households. Here, there’s little clarity on the SIR and the impending September 1 deadline. Most people say they have Aadhaar and ration cards, and don’t understand the fuss about the SIR.
Aadhaar and voter cards are not among the EC-mandated list of 11 that electors can submit with their enumeration forms in order to make it to the electoral roll.
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Budhiya Devi has submitted her enumeration form, but not any of the supporting documents. “I only have Aadhaar and ration cards. Why is this (SIR) being done? Why are they making us do this? I remember, when we were earlier part of another Assembly constituency and then when we became part of Dhamdaha, it was the government that gave us voter ID cards. We didn’t have to run around for papers. Now, we have to spend money at cyber cafes and pay bribes as well. If the government and politicians do not want us to stay voters, we are okay with it.”
Khudiya Devi, another villager, says, “My name is on the 2003 list but my three daughters-in-law, Sulekha, Rinky and Silan, have no papers. They say we have to get documents of their parents. No one has come to help us”.
One of the EC officials in Ward Number 11 says, “Of the 999 voters on the draft roll, about 300 are part of the 2003 list. So far, we have collected documents from 700-plus people, but most of these documents are Aadhaar, ration cards and bank passbooks. We know these documents won’t work, but that’s all the villagers have. We are accepting these papers, hoping our seniors will consider them.”