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PATNA: For decades, long queues of burqa-clad women at polling booths have marked elections in India.Yet, the three rounds of polling held so far in Bihar have witnessed a diminution of what was considered a staple feature on polling day, community leaders stressing the need to maintain a lower profile on voting day.According to a top JD(U) leader, at many places, Muslim women discarded the veil to de-emphasize their distinctiveness. This is a fallout of a lesson Nitish Kumar’s colleagues learnt in the 2014 LS polls. The size of Muslim turnout had triggered what’s called “counter-polarization”, pushing voters, who seemed to be tilting towards JD(U) and RJD, towards BJP, propelling the saffron party to a tally that helped Narendra Modi score a majority of his own.“The difference in the number of votes we polled before 9.30am and after long queues of Muslims started forming at booths should be a subject of research. With the buzz about Muslim mobilization spreading through bush telegraph and TV channels splashing the images, the number of votes for us steadily declined,” said the JD(U) leader who seemed gratified by the community’s decision to be subtle this time.The preference to be inconspicuous when the premium on distinctiveness and the use of veils has increased stands out in the Bihar polls . Community members dodge queries about polls: A far cry from the days when they would enthusiastically provide reporters with political intelligence on their constituencies.In Meenapur constituency near Muzaffarpur, Shameem stoutly resists all efforts to engage in a conversation on the poll “hawa”. He’s no exception. At Runi Saidpur of Sitamarhi, Mohammed Shiraz opened up only after being coaxed by Bhupendra Yadav. “Our village has about a hundred Muslim families. All of us will support Laluji as in previous polls,” Shiraz said.At Paru in Muzaffarpur, Mohammad Alauddin refused to discuss anything except cricket. “That’s the only thing that’s of interest to me,” Alauddin said. He stubbornly stuck to his guns at the betel shop of his friend Pramod Patel. Only when Patel, who’s from the same caste as Nitish Kumar, started listing his reasons for supporting the “secular” alliance did Alauddin say it was because of the CM that his daughter, Shabnam Khatoon, had started attending school.The restraint extends to the modest presence of Maulanas and Maulvis in the campaign cast of the “secular” alliance in a state where not long ago, Lalu and Ramvilas Paswan would parade an Osama bin Laden look alike at their election rallies. They don’t have to go to such lengths this time.With all secular parties lumped in the grand alliance, Muslims aren’t conflicted about whom to support and are behind RJD, JD(U) and Congress candidates.The community’s subdued posture takes on significance as the election moves to the final phase, the crunch round, where Muslims make up 30% of the electorate and can help the “secular” alliance deliver, what its strategists expect, to be the knockout punch.By all accounts, BJP’s hopes from this phase rest on consolidating Hindus which would mean marrying the upper caste core of its constituency with the extremely backward castes. It appears to have largely thwarted the effort of its “secular” rival to create an upper caste-versus the-rest divide by accusing Nitish, Lalu and Congress of seeking to extend quota benefits to Muslims and Christians at the cost of OBCs.The focus on the role of Indian Mujahideen’s Darbhanga module in some major terror outrages and Amit Shah’s remark that celebratory fireworks will go off in Pakistan if NDA were to lose are being seen as clear pointers to the kind of campaign that might unroll for the 57 seats.