Bihar Migrants Face Mass Voter Disenfranchisement Crisis
The 2025 Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Bihar’s electoral rolls has led to the deletion of nearly 3.5 million migrant voters. These migrants were labelled as permanently migrated due to their absence during house-to-house verification. This move threatens to exclude millions from the democratic process both at their workplaces and home constituencies. Bihar’s economy depends heavily on migration, making this a critical issue for the state’s political and social fabric.
Context
Bihar has a long history of out-migration as a survival and economic strategy. Migrants often move seasonally or relocate families, creating circular and split-family migration patterns. The SIR process, designed for sedentary citizens, misinterprets absence as abandonment. This results in the mass removal of migrant voters from electoral rolls, denying them their fundamental democratic right.
Migrant Challenges
India’s voter registration system requires proof of residence and in-person verification. Migrants living in temporary or informal housing often lack such documentation. This structural rigidity excludes migrants from registering in host states. Regional political sentiments further discourage migrant voter inclusion, as migrants are often seen as outsiders or threats to local job markets and politics.
Impact of Regionalism and Sub-Nationalism
Host states frequently resist migrant voter enrolment due to fears of altered electoral outcomes. This resistance encourages exclusion and deepens migrants’ political marginalisation. Bihar migrants face a double bind – unable to register in destination states and removed from home state rolls, effectively silencing their vote.
Findings from Electoral Participation Studies
A 2015 Tata Institute of Social Sciences study brought into light the triple burden on migrants – administrative barriers, digital illiteracy, and social exclusion. It found that states with higher migration rates had lower voter turnout. Bihar’s SIR initiative has widened this democratic deficit instead of bridging it.
Seasonal Migration and Voter Turnout
Approximately seven million circular migrants leave Bihar annually. Nearly half return during major festivals. Many will be unable to vote in the 2025 Assembly elections due to deletion from rolls. Lack of coordination between origin and destination states worsens disenfranchisement.
Dual Residency and Political Identity
Migrants maintain dual residency – economic participation in host states and political identity in Bihar. This duality creates bureaucratic challenges. Migrants retain voter IDs from home states due to lack of acceptance in destination states. The state’s current approach criminalises this dual belonging.
Cross-Border Migration Complexities
Along the India-Nepal border, migration issues intensify. Traditional ties and marriages cross borders, but new documentation norms threaten citizenship and voting rights. Disenfranchisement here is also gendered and xenophobic, affecting women migrants disproportionately.
Need for Portable Voter Identity Systems
India must adopt flexible, portable voter ID systems to include migrants. The Election Commission should stop blanket deletions and use cross-verification with destination states. Panchayats and civil society should lead migrant outreach and re-registration efforts. Kerala’s migration survey model can guide other states with high out-migration.
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