The Bihar Poll Rolls Revision and India’s Electoral Architecture

• The Representation of the People Act, 1950, assumed majority Indians lived and voted where they were born.

• Over 450 million Indian internal migrants make up 37% of the population.

• Bihar has the highest rate of internal migration, with 36% of households reporting at least one migrant.

• Over 20% of the working-age population lives outside the State.

• Disenfranchisement is existential for migrant subjects and is often bureaucratic.

• Absentee voting in the US, Philippines, and Australia has led to over 90% voter participation.

• The ECI must advocate for reform and pilot alternative enrolment models.

• Political actors are instrumentalizing disenfranchisement as a mobilisation tool, not investing in voter education and assistance.