After five years and dereservation,UP village gets a head

No one contested the elections in 2005 and then the by-elections,which were rescheduled eight times. This time,the pradhan’s seat was dereserved and as many as eight candidates filed their nominations,all Thakurs. One candidate withdrew her nomination papers,leaving seven in the fray. In the results declared on Thursday,Ashish Singh defeated his nearest candidate Raghuveer Singh by a margin of 510 votes.

Returning Officer for Malasa S K Shukla said: “Malasa has a total of 4,010 voters,of whom 2,044 cast their votes on October 20.” Ashish Singh got 863 votes and his nearest rival Raghuveer Singh got 353,Shukla said.

Ashish Singh said it was heartening to see the response of the people of Malasa. “If no Dalit contested the election in the last five years,it was no fault of other villagers. On several occasions,senior Thakur residents had asked Dalits to file nomination,but they could not muster the courage,” he said.

One of the bigger villages of Ramabai Nagar district,Malasa is also a block. The village has a population of over 7,000. Of the 4,010 voters,more than 3,800 are Thakurs and Brahmins,while only around 150 are Dalits.

In August 2005,not a single Dalit came forward to contest the elections. In the June 2008 by-election,two Dalits — Chandrika Prasad and Lallai — decided to contest. Chandrika Prasad filed his nomination but later withdrew,reportedly fearing the backlash of non-Dalits. Lallai could not even find a single voter to propose his candidature. In subsequent by-elections,no one filed nominations.