2024-05-02 15:45:12
New Delhi: Bhagwat Sharan (95), referring to the India-Pakistan partition in 1947, says that that day I had gone to Brijghat to take a bath in the Ganga. There it was revealed that India had been divided. As soon as partition took place, the country was engulfed in riots. Somehow I reached my home from Brijghat and then I regained my senses. This was the period when people in the villages considered the village head equal to the MLA and MP. At that time the election of the head was also done with the general consent of the villagers. All the villagers were called to one place (Chaupal).
If only one candidate stood for Pradhan, then everyone accepted him as their Pradhan, but if the contest was between two people, then the villagers were asked to support different candidates. People used to raise their hands. A person would count them and tell how many villagers were in their support. After this, hands were arranged for the other candidate. The candidate who had more people in support was elected head.
Refreshing his memories of the first Lok Sabha elections, Bhagwat Sharan says that at that time not much money was spent on election campaign and reeds were used to hoist the flag. Propaganda was done by hanging a paper tricolor flag on a reed and roaming around in the streets. Only food was served in exchange for campaigning for political parties. Recalling the period of Emergency, Bhagwat Sharan says that people used to travel long distances in trains singing folk songs, but everything stopped as soon as the Emergency was imposed. Everyone remained seated in the trains. He says that now times have changed a lot, now entire elections are fought and won on the basis of money.