The Association for Democratic
Reforms (ADR) pushing the campaign for "Voting Facilities for the Migrant
Workers" when five states including Assam are going to Assembly polls is a
timely intervention. Lack of an accepted definition of migrant workers in India
continues to be the stumbling block for evolving a mechanism to enable them to
exercise their franchise from their place of work. The migrant workers cannot
afford to travel back to their home states to exercise their franchise and most
of them cannot take part in the voting on the polling day. The postal ballot
system is available only for the government employees and employees of armed
forces. The ADR studies reveal that several crores of migrant residents of
India remain deprived of voting right. The political exclusion of such a huge
population of the country due to lack of arrangement for them to exercise their
franchise is not healthy for Indian democracy. The nationwide lockdown revealed
that lakhs of migrant workers from Assam work in different states and most of
them will not be able to take part in the voting. While several thousand
managed to return after being without job and income for days and months,
majority of them have gone back to work places after the country gradually
unlocked and industrial units, construction, and other works in which they were
engaged as temporary or seasonal workers opened. The ADR has also been flagging
the issue that while steps are being taken to enable about 60 to 70 lakhs
Non-Resident Indians to vote, about 20 crores of migrant residents in the
country continue to be deprived from exercising their voting rights. The
Election Commission of India constituted a committee to go into the issue and
held consultations with the political parties. The issue was also discussed on
the floors of Parliament. However, the Central government, political parties
and the Election Commission of India have not been able to hammer out a
solution. Proposal for extending postal
ballot facilities for migrant workers came up during these consultation
process. There are several technical and legal issues including issues of
security of postal ballots and imposition of code of conduct. However, the ECI
has enabled the Kashmiri migrants of Kashmir and Bru refugees in Tripura to
cast postal ballots from temporary polling arrangements in the refugee camps.
All migrant electors in these refugee camps can post their application forms
and later on their marked postal ballot papers in the special letter boxes
which will be available at the offices of the Assistant Returning Officers. In
terms of Section 60(c) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, the
Election Commission, in consultation with the Central Government notified the
Bru/Reang migrants belonging to Mizoram Parliamentary Constituency and
presently settled outside the place of their ordinary residences, as notified
class of voters, for the purpose of facilitating the exercise of their
franchise in the aforesaid general election through postal ballot and postal
ballot only, stated the EC notification. Similar arrangement can also be made
in respect of migrant workers who are away from their home states and cannot
afford because of economic condition to return home simply for casting votes.
Participating in a webinar on the issue organised by the ADR, former Chief
Election Commissioners, S. Y. Quraishi, O.P. Rawat highlighted the practical
problem of imposition of model code of conduct in respect of migrant voters in
the state where they work as Assembly polls are held in different time. Without
the imposition of model code of conduct the migrant workers, while exercising
their franchise through whatever mechanism is arranged, may be subjected to
pressure or allurement by parties and candidates. Former Chief Election
Commissioner Naseem Zaidi came up with the view that once the definition of
migrant residents of India is decided finding a technical solution to enable
them to vote will not be an issue. Requirement of residency papers is believed
to be one of the primary reasons behind reluctance of among migrant workers to
register as voter in the cities or towns far away from their home state in
which they earn their livelihood as seasonal or temporary workers. The
remittances they send to home state have been contributing hugely to rural
household economy, particularly in agriculture sector. It is unfortunate the
government and the society in their home state forget their presence and
importance once they migrate out of their village in search of greener
pastures. The Election Commission appeals to voters by saying "Cast your Vote.
Your vote counts." The toughest challenge before the commission is to ensure
that every vote of every migrant worker also counts, and they do not remain the
forgotten voters forever. The issue of enabling migrant workers to vote from
wherever they are should get equal importance as enabling the NRI voters abroad
to cast vote.