In January-February 2007, the top leaders of the CPI (Maoist) gathered in the village of Chormara in Bihar’s Jamui district for the party’s 9th Congress, the first meeting since it was formed three years earlier following the merger of the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) and the People’s War Group. On Tuesday, the people of Chormara, a newly christened “model booth”, voted in their village for the first time in over three decades.

Chormara, located on a hilly terrain, was one of the 768 polling booths in the districts of Gaya, Jamui, and Rohtas where Maoists were once active, but this time did not need to be relocated to any “safer” areas. All three districts recorded a high turnout as of 5 pm, with 67.5% of voters in Gaya exercising their franchise, 67.81% in Jamui, and Rohtas registering

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