varghese K george This is where it all began. The historian, documenting the journey of India’s elections, and the political reporter writing about the present will find themselves staring at the same picture.

It was in Begusarai, in 1957, for the first time in independent India that election booths were captured. A group of upper-caste Bhumihars chased away Yadav voters at the Khas Mahal Kacheri booth in Rachiahee village and voted on their behalf. Now, 47 years later, nothing has changed except that the rigging has become electronic and the original victims are now the tormentors.

A visit to Ekaspur village in the area shows how rigging, once a novelty, has become a mass movement. The Dalits here have voted only once over the past half-a-century. That was during the 2001 panchayat elections, when the polling booth was in their own neighbourhood, away from the gaze of the upper castes.

The village mukhiya, Kapil Davi Rai, says the booth has returned to the upper-caste hamlet for the coming election, so no one from his village will dare make the journey to it. ‘‘It is the location of the booth that makes all the difference,’’ says Ram Uday Paswan. His tiny hamlet is trapped in Bhumihar territory. A few dozen families control hundreds of acres of land. As far as the eye can see, all the land on one side of the road is owned by a single man, Harbans Singh.

‘‘It doesn’t concern us who votes for whom. We are farmers,’’ says a caretaker at Singh’s sprawling cattle-shed. Then he adds for effect: ‘‘These are dangerous places.’’ They have always been. In 1952, as the Yadavs outnumbered the landlords, they got their own CPI candidate elected at the expense of the Congress nominee, who was backed by the Bhumihars. In 1957, the Bhumihars were ready for revenge.

‘‘They ganged up to defeat our candidate,’’ says CPI MLA from Begusarai, Rajendra Rajan. History will record that Saryug Singh of Congress defeated Chandrashekhar Singh of CPI by just 700 votes in 1957. It may also record that for the first time in India, booths were captured. From re-polling being ordered in just four booths in Bihar in 1957, the number grew to 62 in 1984, 1,933 booths in 1996 and 4,995 booths in 1998. The major difference is that power is no longer vested only with the landlords. The emergence of Laloo has seen the balance of power shift towards the OBCs. The Yadavs, Koeris and Kurmis have become the new bully boys, while the Dalits and EBCs (extremely backward castes) keep getting pushed around. Today, the Yadavs and the Koeris are largely with the NDA after Nitish Kumar broke away from the original Janata Dal to form his Samata Party in 1997. The Yadavs back Laloo.