Legend has it that the first booth capturing took place in Begusarai 58 years ago. There are several reports suggesting that the first polling booth that was captured during an election was in 1957 in Rachiyahi area of Begusarai district.
By definition, booth capturing means that members of a party forcefully occupy a polling booth and cast fake votes in the names of those registered as voters. If we go by the definition, it was not booth capturing that happened in the Kachahri tola of Rachiyahi.
The tale of what happened on the day was narrated to IBNLive by 85-year-old Kameshwar Rai, who was born and spent his entire life in Rachiyahi, which now falls in the Matihani Assembly constituency of Begusarai district.
According to him, the said incident took place 1 km away on the eastern side of the booth. That was a time when people of four villages, and numerous panchayats under them, had to travel to Rachiyahi to vote.
One such group of villagers, believed to be the supporters of Communist Party leader Chandra Shekhar Singh, was on its way to the booth. They were coming from Rajapur village on a bullock cart. As the information reached the supporters of rival Congress leader Saryug Prasad Singh, they decided to stop the villagers midway.
"Some supporters of Saryug babu went on horses from Akashpur and stopped the Rajapur villagers on way to the booth. They asked them to return to their village instead of casting their votes," said Rai.
He added that the communist supporters protested, leading to a fight between the two groups. Members of both the groups got injured in the clash, and those who got hurt seriously went to get treatment instead of casting their votes.
"There was no disruption at the polling booth. I remember it clearly. It is wrong to say that the booth was captured. Only those who got injured seriously went for treatment while other members of the group, and people from other villages did come to the booth and cast their votes," said the 85-year-old.
He justified his claim by saying that “had the booth been captured by Congress supporters, how could Chandra Shekhar babu win the election?"
This claims was supported by another veteran of the village, Sidheshwar Prasad, who has also served as a mukhiya in the region.
"Though it’s a fact that there were attempts of stopping people from voting, it is not actually correct to say that the booth was captured," he said, following which he narrated the same incident.
The booth in question was a small building housing a courtroom built during the British rule. What’s left now are the mere remains of the building, which possibly would have been among the first few concrete buildings in the village.
At present, the polling booth is in a school building, less than half-a-kilometre away from the remains of the previous booth.
A query on the tale of booth capturing amuses the youth in the area now. In a tongue-in-cheek response, they say, "It's good that Rachiyahi has made it to internet with this story of booth capturing. Why do you want to break the myth?"
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