Deepak Kumar, a 19-year-old intermediate student, is all praise for the Election Commission. "So many security personnel have come to our village! They are everywhere. They have been here for some time now, and no goonda has dared wag his tail in these parts. It is good. The people will vote without fear," he says.
So, if he is going to vote without fear, who will it be for? "It will be either the SP or the BSP," he says.
Ask him what the SP has done for him to contemplate voting for them, and he says, "For you, the 30-kilometre road to our village must have been backbreaking, but for us, it is better than not having a road at all. These small things matter for us. I will think hard and vote for one of these two parties."
Anil Ram, a 28-year-old who owns a teashop by the railway line, says it is now definitely easier for people like him to go out and vote. “There is no intimidation whatsoever. This must be the most peaceful elections I have ever seen," he says.
He too, like Deepak, says he will vote for the SP or the BSP. "I don't think anybody else is worth voting for. I believe these two parties will do something in some area. I can't say that about the others," he says.
A few kilometres from Dildarnagar is Zamania. It is siesta time in the small village of Suhwaliya. A few people are hanging out in a thatched room. There are no paramilitary forces around. "But that is ok. We have been hearing about the huge number of security personnel piled in and around our constituency. I think this is good for the public, especially the lower caste people. The upper class people had the lower caste terrorized till the previous election. This time, they can't," says 25-year-old Sohan Yadav.
His friend Dhananjay Singh Yadav is not sure. "We have only been hearing about the security cover in the constituencies and the polling stations. We haven't seen anything in our village. But the fact that there has been no threat or violence so far is enough indication that things are changing. But we will find out at the polling booth anyway," he shrugs.
Ask who the favourites are in the region and Sohan and Dhananjay chorus: "SP ya BSP mein se koi ayega (The SP or BSP will win)."
Image: In Dildarnagar, it is a straight shootout between the BSP and
the SP.
Also see: In Rae Bareli, Mrs G is queen
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