Voting Rights of Migrant Laborers in India

More than one third of India’s laborers are migrant workers. Since there is no  facility of postal ballot for anyone other than the government servants posted on election duty, a large number of migrant workers are unable the exercise this constitutional right. If someone wants to vote, all would be needed is to travel back to one’s home constituency (where his / her name is registered in electoral roll).

Minister’s Panel on Feasibility of Voting for Migrant Workers

The NDA Government has recently created an 11-member panel of ministers headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to look into the feasibility of extending the voting rights similar to NRIs to migrant labourers/ workers within the country. The election commission has opposed this move mainly because it will create logistical hurdles. The logic of EC is plausible because around 12-15 per cent of the 815 million voters would fall in this category, which EC may not be able to manage.