Migrant Biharis living across India have long been derided and made to feel unwelcome. Often subjected to anti-Bihari sentiment and discrimination, they have, for perhaps the first time, become the focus of sustained political courtship ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections.
For the two-phase polls on 6 and 11 November, political parties are facilitating travel back home: running special trains, urging companies to grant paid leave, and organising targeted outreach events. From Delhi-NCR to Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Gujarat, there are visible efforts to woo Bihar's vast migrant population - people who have been economically crucial to India's growth but politically invisible once they step outside their home state.
In Bihar, unemployment, poverty, and migration have long been central election issues. Whether this new strategy will translate into electoral gains is the real question.
The Outreach Push
Back in March, the BJP organised Bihar Diwas celebrations at 65 locations across the country, involving senior leaders and non-resident Biharis. The party mapped migrant voters across 150 districts and set up dedicated outreach teams.
In Haryana, the BJP compiled a detailed database of Bihari migrants across all 22 districts. In Delhi-NCR, the party tapped into Chhath Puja committees and Bihar Diwas events.
In Gujarat, Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghvi held programmes in Surat and beyond, urging Bihari voters to return home to vote. For families that have permanently settled outside Bihar, he encouraged them to influence relatives back home. A voter registration drive has also begun to mobilise Bihari migrants for the Gujarat Assembly elections in 2027.
The Congress joined the effort later. Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar appealed to employers statewide - companies, builders, contractors, hotel owners, and shopkeepers - to grant three days of paid leave to Bihari workers so they could vote. The request was framed as democratic inclusion: enabling every citizen to exercise their right to vote.
Many migrants retain strong emotional and economic ties to Bihar - sending remittances, funding family needs, and tracking political developments closely. Parties have realised that mobilising this constituency could influence outcomes in closely contested seats, especially in outmigration-heavy districts such as Siwan, Gopalganj, and Samastipur.
Practicality Versus Optics
Promises of free tickets, festive songs at railway stations, or paid leave may appear empathetic. Yet they do little to address the structural issues that force migration in the first place: unemployment, low wages, and chronic underinvestment in Bihar. Once again, no major political formation has presented a credible long-term plan to tackle these challenges.
Behind the rhetorical empathy lies electoral arithmetic. An estimated 1-1.5 crore Bihari migrants work across India. Even a modest increase in voter turnout could shift results in dozens of constituencies. According to the 2011 Census, 74.5 lakh Biharis lived across 34 states and Union Territories. This outreach could decisively affect the fortunes of both the BJP and the Mahagathbandhan - and, in turn, party leaderships in Delhi.
Yet many migrants remain unaware of voting procedures where they currently reside. Others are registered in their home constituencies but cannot afford to travel back. The emotional appeal may generate goodwill, but its translation into votes remains uncertain.
After the Ballot
As with previous elections, the renewed interest in migrant workers risks evaporating once polling ends. Other once-backward states have managed to lift themselves, at least partially, out of entrenched poverty. Bihar continues to lag, in part because its concerns rarely remain in the national consciousness for long.
Bihari migrants, many employed in manual and service-sector work, often face linguistic prejudice and social exclusion. The positive aspect here is that political strategists across parties have finally acknowledged their electoral significance. One hopes that this leads to broader accountability - not only in mobilising migrants during elections, but in addressing labour rights, working conditions, and dignity in daily life.
Until migrants are seen not merely as vote banks, but as citizens entitled to dignity, opportunity, and recognition, political outreach will remain superficial.
(The author is Contributing Editor, NDTV)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author
