Bhubaneswar: Members from the civil society have now put forth their demand in front of the Election Commission of India (ECI) to allow migrant workers to use postal ballots to vote during elections.
A collective memorandum has now been prepared by the Citizens for Justice and Peace, the Lok Shakti Abhiyan, Odisha, the All India Union of Forest Working Peoples (AIUFWP), Bangla Sanskriti Mancha and Bharatiya Nagarik Adhikar Suraksha Manch, Assam to bat for the demands.
“A vast majority of migrant labourers are unable to exercise their franchise due to economic constraints and their inability to undertake the commute to their home states in the one day nation-wide holiday that is declared for Parliamentary elections,” the memorandum said.
It also added, “They are also unable to cast votes in their host states as they do not fulfill the requirements of ‘ordinary resident’ or usual resident to be registered as a voter of that constituency. That leaves them in a lurch doesn’t it?”
Prafulla Samantara, Chairman of Lok Shakti Abhiyan, Odisha said, “Several migrant workers from Odisha who go to outside the state fail to register their votes for elections of MP/MLAs of Odisha despite having valid voter cards and names on register. So we have raised the demand to ensure their voting rights.”
A 2012 study showed that 78% of migrant labourers surveyed possessed voter ID cards and names present on voting lists of their home cities. “One solution to this would be to allow migrant workers to cast their votes from their host states in the form of postal ballot. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, a total of more than 28 Lakhs votes were received via postal ballots,” the memorandum to ECI said.