Real story from Bihar Election " BUDDHU SINGH "

" Mukhiya of Sodhiyari, Ranvir Singh is dead. He was killed by his own trusted follower named Buddhu Singh," reads the newspaper. It is horribly good news for the people of Sodhiyari Panchayat an out skirt place in the district of Darbhanga (Bihar). Why? -------------------
Once in the summer of 2001 I happened to be in a very unpleasant and inconvenient position. I can vividly remember I was a polling officer at booth no. 140 in Sodhiyari panchayat of Darbhanga district. We were a team of four persons. As it was my first election duty, I was told that conducting Panchayat Election especially in Bihar was a very onerous task.
That fateful day Election started off very well. Along with our four men team we had four policemen with guns to keep things in order.
Without any food or water we worked in tandem from 6.45 a.m. to 1.00p.m.. I never fell hungry or thirsty in fact the pressure of the voter's never gave time to feel it. By1.00p.m. approximately 40% of the voting was completed. As the countryside is usually without the facility of restaurant or other eating-place we remained without food. Thankfully, at around 1.30 p.m. some home made foodstuff was sent to all of us by some local folks. So we took an unofficial break and had our launch without paying for it.
Suddenly when we just resumed work, we heard a loud explosion of Bomb, which exploded at a distance of about 100 meters. There was panic hence fourth and I started feeling butterfly in my stomach. There was chaos everywhere. A Senior police officer who was along with us asked us to stop issuing any ballot paper. He further asked the voters to leave the polling booth.
After fifteen minutes, I saw seven men coming towards the polling booth. Some of the voters on leaving the place raised eyebrows, as they doubted the police role and thought it all fishy. I even heard one say, " Now Buddhu Singh has come, he will not only allow us to vote but also capture the booth."
A short, dark and ordinary looking man whom his friend called Buddhu Singh come inside the no entry room. He gently withdrew three Bombs from his 'Kurta' and kept them on the floor. Then he smiled at us. It was a pretty awful sight. I had never before been so close to such a thing as that. I was literally stunned.
The whole election was taken into ransom by the man name Buddhu. A name that suggested he was foolish but perhaps his parents were aware of its ironical implications because the man really made fools of all voters. Infact, he was virtually a daredevil.
Then after sitting on the floor he kindly requested our presiding officers to hand him the entire remaining ballot papers. He said he was a man of Ranvir Singh and had no intention of harming the Government servant. He further said, " As you are following the order of your Government. I am also doing the same, following orders.
Our presiding officer Mr. Jairam willy-nilly handed around 390 ballot papers to him. He however, on his own, requested to returned 90 of them back as he feared that election could be annulled in case voting figured exceeded ninety percent. Finally, the colourful and knowledgeable Buddhu Singh returned forty-five ballots to the presiding officer. He executed his work very skilfully and briskly and by quarter past three he, slipped back along with those three weapons of destruction from there.
When he left the place our presiding officer asked us to complete the paper work. We helped him fill all those papers, e.g. exact figures of male and female voters and their percentage.
Finally, our Presiding Officer signed, all the relevant papers, including certifying that voting took place in a peaceful manner and eventually submitted the same along with the ballot box to the authorised person.