SIR: Migration, low awareness drive Karnataka’s high ASDDO numbers
Political apathy, limited awareness of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), and large-scale labour migration have together pushed Karnataka towards one of the country’s highest draft-stage
Political apathy, limited awareness of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), and large-scale labour migration have together pushed Karnataka towards one of the country’s highest draft-stage electoral roll deletions. Nearly one in five voters in the State now falls under the Absent, Shifted, Duplicate, Dead and Others (ASDDO) category. Migration explains only part of the story. Bengaluru, which attracts lakhs of workers from across Karnataka, is reporting some of the State’s highest ASDDO numbers because a large number of voters have been marked as permanently shifted or untraceable. However, the districts from which people migrate, including Koppal, Raichur, Kalaburagi, Yadgir and several other parts of north Karnataka, are also reporting some of the highest ASDDO figures. It remains unclear where the lakhs of voters being marked as shifted are being accounted for in the electoral rolls. Permanent shifts account for the largest share of the ASDDO list, with more than half of the 1.10 crore voters, 65.39 lakh, marked as permanently shifted. Another 15.92 lakh have been marked as absent. So far, Uttar Pradesh has reported the country’s highest draft-stage deletions at 19.09%, largely attributed to migration. None of the Phase II States, nor Bihar, where the exercise was first carried out as a pilot, has recorded figures as high as Karnataka’s. Even in Phase III, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh have reported lower draft-stage deletions than what Karnataka is now headed towards. In 2002, when the intensive revision of a special nature was conducted, Karnataka did not have the scale of internal migration it has today. Bengaluru has since become one of India’s largest employment destinations, drawing workers from across the State and the country. At the same time, districts such as Koppal, Raichur, Kalaburagi and Yadgir continue to witness seasonal migration because of drought, poor employment opportunities and chronic regional imbalance.
These are also among Karnataka’s most backward districts. Released earlier this year, the Govind Rao Committee on regional imbalances identified many of them as “most backward” or “more backward”, pointing to persistent gaps in education, employment, healthcare and access to government services. Those same gaps now appear to be playing out during the SIR. Seasonal migration is a way of life in many of Karnataka’s backward districts. While the enumeration phase is under way, entire families are already in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai or Goa, working as construction labourers, pourakarmikas, domestic workers or hotel staff. Many migrant workers told The Hindu they did not even know the SIR was under way. Many also said they possessed little beyond Aadhaar and ration cards. Women in several of these communities have studied only up to primary school, while many workers said they could not even verify the spelling of their own names. For these families, a voter ID is proof of residence needed to access government welfare. The Chief Electoral Officer, V. Anbu Kumar, has consistently maintained that multiple checks, including mahazars, are carried out before a voter is marked under ASDDO. He has also repeatedly defended the figures, arguing that he or Booth Level Officers (BLOs) cannot analyse why a voter is untraceable and are only carrying out the exercise as prescribed. However, the people being marked absent or shifted do not even know they have been placed under the ASDDO category because of the design of the exercise. BLOs said they mark someone as shifted if the person has permanently moved. If the person is not present during the enumeration phase, they are categorised as “absent”. Furthermore, the CEO has said that if a voter is not at home, a relative above the age of 18 can sign the enumeration form.
The BriefWire