If any section of the Bihar electorate has hogged the limelight since the polling began,it is the women. Like in the first phase,women,especially from the EBCs and Scheduled Castes,turned up in large numbers at polling booths during the second phase of polling on Sunday. In some cases,they defied their husbands to exercise their franchise. The polling in East Champaran,Sitamarhi,Darbhanga,Samastipur,Muzaffarpur and Sheohar averaged 52.55 per cent with East Champaran registering highest poll percentage of 58. Three Naxal-hit districts of Sitamarhi (51 per cent),Sheohar (49) and Muzaffarpur (53.3) that went to polls after the killing of five policemen in a landmine blast at Sheohar on Thursday,defied the Naxal diktat for a boycott. Samastipur,considered RJDs bastion,also polled 54.3 per cent. Three polling employees who were reported missing from a Runni Saidpur (Sitamarhi) booth since Sunday morning were released at Tariyanh in Sheohar late in the night. Police,who earlier denied any Naxal involvement,later confirmed that they were held captive by the Naxals. The highlight of Sundays voting pattern was womens turnout. Women voters of Benipur village in Aurai Assembly constituency of Muzaffarpur had to cross Baghmati river to reach polling booths. The Election Commission had assured them of four boats but none turned up. They then arranged private boats and paid Rs 3 each to reach polling booths. In Darbhanga,a woman voter stuck to her guns to vote for the candidate of her choice despite directions to the contrary by her brother-in-law. There were instances of polling boycott at two booths of Darbhanga and one each in Sitamarhi and Samastipur because of no development in the area. There were stray incidences of violence with JD(U) Minapur nominee and minister Dinesh Prasad Singh Kushwahas vehicle being hit by stones injuring his bodyguard. Over 800 voters at Sahenganj (Muzaffarpur) could not caste their votes because of discrepancies in voter I-cards. In Motihari,bodyguards of ruling JD(U) nominee Shivji Rai were detained allegedly for trying to influence voters at a Madhuban booth. Over 44,000 personnel from BSF,Special Auxiliary Police,CRPF,Bihar Military Police and district police were deployed for poll duty.
