Bihar elections: Migration a major factor behind change in voter demography

Time of India

4 days ago

Bihar's draft electoral roll reveals demographic shifts due to migration. Patna saw the highest voter deletion, followed by Madhubani. BJP-JDU strongholds like East Champaran also experienced significant deletions. Gopalganj's voter list shrank due to migration and floods. Samastipur witnessed a close NDA-RJD contest. Purnia is among the top districts with voter deletions.
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The draft electoral roll for Bihar published after the SIR by the Election Commission indicated a change of voter demography due to internal as well as external migration of the people. A primary look at the data suggests a uniform deletion of voters across the state.Among the 38 districts, Patna recorded the highest voter deletion with 3,95,500 voters removed out of the voter list. Patna is the largest district of the state with 14 assembly constituencies. Out of 14, seven districts have recorded more than average deletion of 27,012 votes per assembly seat.Out of the 14 assembly constituencies, RJD had won six seats, followed by BJP with five in the 2020 elections. RJD ally CPI (ML) won two and Congress won one seat.Madhubani district, which stood second in deletion list with 3,53,545 voters, has been a stronghold of the BJP-JDU combine. In the 2020 assembly elections, BJP won five out of 10 assembly seats here while JDU won three seats and RJD could win only two. The district is known for large-scale migration outside the state and could be one of the reasons the district has recorded the second highest deletion.East Champaran district has been another stronghold of the BJP-JDU combine with the two parties winning eight out of 11 seats in 2020. BJP won seven seats while JDU won one while three seats were won by RJD.In Gopalganj district, there are six assembly seats and a total of 3,10,363 electors have been deleted in the draft voter list. In the 2020 assembly elections, BJP, JDU and RJD won two seats each in the district. The district is largely affected by migration and floods. Being a district bordering UP, several families have moved to nearby Gorakhpur for better health and education facilities. The district also witnesses a high migration to gulf countries for work opportunities.Samastipur district, one of the top five in terms of voter deletion, has always witnessed a close contest between NDA and RJD. In 2020, out of 10 assembly seats, RJD won four, JDU won three, BJP won two and CPI (ML) won one seat. The district recorded a deletion of 2,83,955 electors.The pattern is similar in other districts. In four districts of Seemanchal, only Purnia has figured in top 10 districts in terms of voter deletion with 2,73, 920 electors deleted from the roll over seven assembly constituencies.