Expenses prevent migrant workers from going home to vote

Coimbatore: Although the Election Commission of India (ECI) has been actively involved in awareness campaigns to increase the voting percentage in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, many North Indian migrant workers in Coimbatore and Tirupur districts have decided to travel to their native places to vote. not wanting. Their votes.
Migrants are mostly employed in industries or work as street vendors. Travel expenses and loss of salary or daily wages discourage them from visiting home states before polling day. The shocking thing is that some workers are not even aware of the dates of the upcoming elections in their respective states. The seven-phase Lok Sabha elections will begin on April 19 and end on June 1.

TNIE spoke to some North Indian laborers to know if they would travel to their native places to vote in the elections. Many workers responded that they had no interest in going home and gave a variety of reasons, although some expressed their intention to stay there to vote.

A Ashok Kumar (22), a labourer, hailing from Patna in Bihar, who is working in a hotel at Gandhipuram bus stand, told TNIE, “If I go to my hometown to vote, I have to pay Rs. You will have to spend around Rs 5,000 for this.” Food etc. I have to stay there for at least 15 days. Thus I will lose around Rs 8,000 from my salary. This puts a financial burden on my family,” he said, adding that he is not even aware of the voting date in his state.

Swaraj (28), a resident of Uttar Pradesh, has been running a small ‘Beeda’ shop on Saradha Mill Road in the city for the last eight years. He said, “I go to my native place once a year. I returned from there only five months ago.” When asked about voting, he admitted that traveling to the home state might cost him around Rs 7,000 and he could not afford that much.

C Ajit Kumar, who works in a textile unit on Mangalam Road in Tiruppur, told TNIE, “My friends would go to Jharkhand and Bihar to vote, but some of them have decided to stay back. Travel and other expenses will cost Rs 2,000. That’s why I and many of them have decided to stay in Tirupur this time.

However, Kulkant Malik, another migrant worker living at a private coconut farm in Sethumadai, Pollachi, said, “Seven families from Odisha are working here. Since elections are to be held in our state in May, we will go to our native place in Kandhamal next month to cast votes.” Recently many laborers from other states had gone to their native places for Ramzan and Holi. Another trip to vote has been rejected.

S Krishnamurthy, general secretary, Migrant Workers Union, Coimbatore (CITU), told TNIE that around 1.5 lakh migrant workers are working in Coimbatore. “Migrant workers give importance only to local body elections and assembly elections. When their relatives contest local body elections, their presence will be required there,” he said. “Around 4,000 West Bengal natives received voter ID cards in Coimbatore South assembly constituency. The ECI should consider some reforms so that migrant workers can at least cast their votes here next time,” he said.

Coimbatore Collector and District Electoral Officer Kranthi Kumar Pati told TNIE, “We have already conducted awareness campaigns as part of the systematic voter education and electoral participation program to improve voting by the employees. Besides, a holiday has also been declared on the day of voting.”