Migrant workers arrive at Bengaluru City Railway Station from eastern states.
The Special Intensive Review (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar has raised fears of possible disenfranchisement of migrant voters. Bihar, along with Uttar Pradesh, is a key source of immigrants and people from these two states migrate in large numbers. This mobility is visible across the country. Although this was evident during the COVID-19 pandemic, there is little data to document this. The last census was in 2011. The 2027 census will capture these migration patterns over the past 15 years, but there are proxy datasets and recent sample surveys that provide insight into where people are going and from.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) it is clear that one of the objectives of the SIR is to remove migrants who have moved out of the state from the electoral rolls of Bihar. Concerns about the voting rights of migrants are misplaced, for the simple reason that they are assumed to be voters where they have migrated – where they normally reside. Bihar SIR is an experiment in determining whether one can vote and where one can vote; whether a person is a citizen and where he is a resident. This experiment in both demographic accounting and engineering will have many political implications far beyond the borders of Bihar.
Published – 13 Aug 2025 08:00 IST
