Bihar's Record Turnout: How Migrant Voters Fueled Election Surge

Most of these workers, mostly engaged by business establishments, construction sites, or as farm labourers elsewhere, usually return home during festivals like Chhath Puja.

Chhath is primally observed in Bihar, Jharkhand, Eastern Uttar Pradesh, and Nepal, as a thanksgiving festival where the Sun God and his sister, Chhathi Maiya are venerated for sustaining life, with devotees praying for health, prosperity, and the well-being of their families.

This year, the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Bihar’s electoral rolls also resulted in many migrants returning home.

Political narratives linking the revision to citizenship status is reported to have led to a significant addition to the number of labourers returning home along with those intending to join their families for the festival.

According to Bihar’s caste survey report 2022-23, around 2.7 crore people live outside the state. Earlier, as per the last Census of India, held in 2011, this number was above 74.5 lakh.

However, some unverified reports quote it as high as anything between one and three crore, with Opposition parties in Bihar blaming it on the incumbent government to contradict Nitish Kumar’s record of good governance and progress.

While there is no reliable figure to indicate the exact number of migrants who returned home in October-November this year to participate in the poll process, local estimates run into “lakhs”.

Incidentally, according to the Election Commission, 21.53 lakh eligible electors were added in the draft voters’ list, where it is quite certain that not all of them will be migrants.

As per the Census 2011 data, the total number of inter-state migrant workers in the country stood at 4.1 crore.

The report on 'Migration in India', based on Periodic Labour Force Survey 2020-21, released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, stated that out of a total 28.9 per cent, around 10.8 per cent chose to go out from their home states due to employment-related reasons.

While employment opportunities could indeed weigh on the minds of such migrants, they would not have certainly voted as a single bloc.

Choice of a particular candidate vary by the person’s caste, community, performance, and local grievances, so they could have swung towards either the ruling National Democratic Alliance or the Opposition Mahagathbandhan bloc, or seek alternatives in Jan Suraaj Party among others, including independents.

However, much would still depend on local dynamics and promises on jobs and development. The Election Commission has termed the 64.66 per cent voters’ turnout in the first phase of the Bihar Legislative Assembly elections as the highest-ever in the history of Bihar.

The last record of a large number of electors participating in Bihar Assembly election was recorded in 2000 at 62.57 per cent, while for Lok Sabha poll it was registered at 64.6 in 1998.

While 121 Assembly Constituencies in Bihar’s 18 districts went to polls with a total elector of over 3.75 crore on Thursday, the rest of 122 seats across 20 districts with about 3.70 voters go for elections on November 11. Counting will be held on November 14.

- IANS