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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Ensure voting rights of migrant workers, ADR urges in its letter to ECI

Ensure voting rights of migrant workers, ADR urges in its letter to ECI

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published Published on May 5, 2021   modified Modified on May 7, 2021

-Press communiqué by Association for Democratic Reforms, dated 5th May, 2021

In a letter sent to Shri Sushil Chandra, Chief Election Commissioner and Shri Rajiv Kumar, Election Commissioner on 5th May, 2021, Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has requested for extending facilities allowing migrant workers to vote from their current residences away from home constituencies, at a time when similar facility is being worked out for the Non-resident Indians (NRIs) by the Election Commission of India (ECI).

In that letter to Election Commissioners, ADR has enclosed as Annexure the background of a webinar held in January this year, deliberations, summary of points raised by various speakers and a set of recommendations on the subject of migrant workers for consideration of ECI. Please click here and here to know more about the webinar titled “Voting Facilities for the Migrant Workers”.

Please note that approximately 60 crore of the 90 crore eligible citizens voted during the Lok Sabha 2019 elections. It is estimated that besides other identified categories who could not vote in successive elections, migrant workers or MRIs constituted a major proportion of more than 30 crore voters who were unable to cast their vote. At present, “there is no practical arrangement in place by the Election Commission of India (ECI) for MRIs to vote in cities where they go to work”. Hence, the ECI must come up with a viable solution to this issue so as to increase the voting percentage in various elections. With this context, ADR conducted the webinar on the aforesaid subject earlier.

One should note here that a study titled  Unlocking the Urban: Reimagining Migrant Lives in Cities Post-COVID 19, released on May 1st, 2020, (please click here and here) by Aajeevika Bureau found that the migrants are stripped of their voting rights and thus do not have any opportunity to assert their political agency.

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The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) had organised the webinar titled “Voting Facilities for the Migrant Workers” on 21st January, 2021. The importance of the subject is evident from the fact that the webinar was addressed by three erstwhile Chief Election Commissioners namely, Dr SY Quraishi, Dr Nasim Zaidi and Shri OP Rawat, who spoke at length about the urgent need for a seamless procedure enabling voting facilities for the migrant workers (popularly referred as Migrant Resident Indians -- MRIs). Prof Jagdeep Chhokar (Founder Member & Trustee, ADR) (who moderated the webinar), Prof Ashwani Kumar of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and Shri Rajiv Khandelwal (Executive Director, Aajeevika Bureau) spoke and deliberated on the need to address the issue of the electoral exclusion of the MRIs.

For more information, please contact:

Association for Democratic Reforms

T-95, C.L. House, 2nd Floor,
(Near Gulmohar Commercial Complex)
Gautam Nagar
New Delhi-110 049

Mob No: +91 8010394248
Tel No.: +91 11 41654200
Fax No.: 011 4609 4248

Email: adr@adrindia.org



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