Who are qualified as ‘ordinarily resident’?, Pg8

Key Highlights:

• Section 19 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 requires a person to be ‘ordinarily resident’ to be included in a constituency’s electoral roll.
• Section 20 defines 'ordinarily resident' and excludes individuals who merely own property without residing there.
• Temporary absentees and certain categories like armed forces, constitutional office holders, NRIs are still considered ‘ordinarily resident’.
• Section 20A (2010) allows NRIs to vote based on their passport address.
• The Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 (RER) governs the inclusion/exclusion in electoral rolls.
• Gauhati High Court (1999) ruled that ordinary residence must be habitual and permanent, not casual.

Detailed Insights:

• Migrant labourers (~15 crore in India) often reside temporarily near worksites but retain familial, economic, and social ties with home constituencies.
• Many are seasonal migrants, returning home periodically; hence, removing them from original rolls can undermine their democratic rights.
• The RP Act allows certain categories (armed forces, NRIs, government officials abroad) to vote in their home constituencies despite non-residence, but labourers lack such legal flexibility.
• Strict enforcement without considering ground realities can lead to systematic disenfranchisement of poor and mobile populations.
• There is reluctance among migrants to register at temporary workplaces, where they lack a sense of community and may face hostility or administrative hurdles.
• Duplicate registration concerns can be addressed via Aadhaar-linked voter databases, though this raises privacy and data protection issues.

Scientific/Technical Concepts Involved:

• Ordinarily Resident: A legal term denoting a person’s habitual and permanent place of residence, as per judicial interpretation.
• Aadhaar Seeding: Linking voter ID with Aadhaar to detect duplicates and improve roll accuracy.
• Special Intensive Revision (SIR): A focused electoral roll update exercise by the ECI for specific States or regions.