India’s democracy is failing the migrant citizen , Pg6

Key Highlights:

• Bihar's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls led to the deletion of approximately 3.5 million migrant voters (4.4% of total) due to being labeled as "permanently migrated".
• Migrant workers face disenfranchisement because India's electoral system requires proof of residence and in-person verification, which is difficult for those living in temporary accommodations.
• A Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) study in 2015 found that administrative barriers, digital illiteracy, and social exclusion prevent migrants from participating in electoral processes.
• The average voter turnout in Bihar's last four Assembly elections was 53.2%, significantly lower than states with fewer outbound migrants like Gujarat (66.4%) and Karnataka (70.7%).
• As of May 2025, only 3.3 lakh households from Bihar availed the portability feature of the 'One Nation One Ration Card' scheme in destination states, highlighting challenges faced by migrants.

Detailed Insights:

• Out-migration has been a survival strategy for Bihar's economy for decades, but the state now interprets this as abandonment of electoral rights [i].
• Regionalism and sub-nationalism contribute to the exclusion of migrants, who are often seen as job-stealers or political threats, hindering their political inclusion.
• The Election Commission of India-funded TISS study correlated lower voter turnout with higher migration rates in source states, indicating a democratic deficit.
• Mobile visitor location register data suggests an annual outflow of approximately seven million circular migrants from Bihar, with 4.8 million migrating seasonally.
• Many migrants retain origin-based documents due to a lack of security and acceptance in host states, not necessarily due to indifference to civic duties [i].
• Along the India-Nepal border, new documentation norms and citizenship interpretations threaten the legal and electoral status of women who migrate post-marriage.
• The Election Commission of India needs to halt blanket deletions of migrants and adopt a cross-verification model with destination state voter rolls.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Disenfranchisement: The state of being deprived of the right to vote or other rights of citizenship.
• Circular Migration: The temporary and often repetitive movement of a migrant worker between home and host areas, usually for employment.
• Electoral Roll: An official list of people who are qualified to vote in an election.