PATNA: Two pleasant developments took place on Thursday during the first phase of voting for the 47 assembly constituencies spread over Seemanchal, Mithilanchal and Kosi regions.
One was enhanced voting rate and another large presence of women voters at polling stations. At different booths, women were found outnumbering men. They came attired in their colourful best and with enthusiasm as if participating in a festival.
This happened after a long time. The credit for this goes to the peaceful atmosphere and a better law and order situation. The voter turnout had been declining for over past two decades largely due to the presence of toughies and booth looters and women had been coming out in a small number.
“The dominating presence of women at polling stations indicates that modernization in Bihar is unfolding in an authentic manner,” social scientist Shaibal Gupta said.
Gupta, the member secretary of the Patna-based Asian Development Research Institute (ADRI), added, “If this trend continues, the state will become one of the front-ranking states and will not only usher in democratization, but economic development as well.”
What surprised many was the scene of the large turnout of women in backward and Muslim-dominated districts like Kishanganj, Araria and Katihar where burqa-clad women queued up and gleefully showed their ink-marked fingers to the waiting cameramen. Most of them were young women enveloped head to toe and some even in designer veils.
Women belonging to the EBC and Mahadalit sections also did not lag behind. Most of them had come to exercise their franchise for the first time. It is not as if they were first-time voters, rather they did not get a chance to vote earlier mainly due to law and order problems and social discrimination.
“The confidence of women has increased manifold and now they see the world in a different perspective,” said BJP national vice-president Kiran Ghai. The sense of security, Ghai said, brought women to the polling stations. A good number of women are in fray this time.
Ghai gives credit for this welcome change to the policies of the NDA government and good governance. “The 50% reservation given to women in panchayat and civic bodies has caused a big social change,” said Ghai, a member of the Bihar legislative council.
CM Nitish Kumar has been appealing to women in his election speeches to observe polling day as a festival, i.e. go to the polling stations in the morning, cast your mandate, return home and then only cook food. Nitish had expressed confidence that this time, the politically and socially empowered women would participate in the election process in large numbers. “After getting reservation in grassroots democratic institutions, they would like to see beyond that,” he once remarked.
Apart from the improved law and order situation and the 50% reservation, the schemes of bicycles and uniforms for schoolgirls also helped enhance their confidence level, said Ghai.
Sources in the police headquarters said that during the first nine months this year, around 80,000 criminals, including hard-core ones, were sent to jail and about 50,000 convicted during the past four years.
The anti-crime drive also helped in curbing electoral malpractice and criminals’ sway on the poll process for which Bihar had earned a bad name in the past and attracted foreign and national media to come here in droves and watch the action.
Read more: Better security draws women to poll booths – The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Better-security-draws-women-to-poll-booths/articleshow/6801319.cms#ixzz13JMPSQi8