MP assembly polls: special call centre to encourage migrant workers to vote

Kirla Dodwa (40), who works a cotton picker at a ginning factory in Surendranagar district of Gujarat, is among the thousands of tribals from western Madhya Pradesh who are forced to live far away from homes to earn their livelihood.

It is a big challenge for the Election Commission to motivate and encourage these migrant workers to come to their native place to vote in the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections.

A special call centre has been started in MP's Alirajpur district from Sunday to invite these migrant labourers to vote in the state polls scheduled on November 17, officials said.

Special posters and songs have also been prepared in local Bhili dialect to raise awareness about voting among the migrant workers of the tribal community, they said.

There has been large scale migration of people from the tribal-dominated Alirajpur district for employment. The district has two assembly seats - Alirajpur and Jobat.

According to government estimates, out of the total 5.66 lakh voters in the two seats, about 85,000 people have gone to the neighbouring states of Gujarat and Maharashtra for jobs.

In the 2018 assembly elections, Jobat assembly constituency witnessed 52.84 per cent voter turnout, which was the lowest among all the 230 seats in the state, the officials said.

Alirajpur's Collector and District Election Officer Abhay Arvind Bedekar told PTI, “We have started a call centre comprising a 20-member team to call around 85,000 migrant workers of Alirajpur district and invite them to come and vote at their native place. We have already collected the mobile numbers of most of these workers.” Their employers in neighbouring states like Gujarat and Maharashtra are also being asked to give paid leave to these workers for voting as per the Election Commission's instructions, he said.

The Alirajpur administration is also considering sending a team of its officers to Gujarat to meet the employers of migrant workers in a bid to encourage voting during the polls, Bedekar said.

According to officials, special posters and songs have also been prepared in local Bhili dialect to raise awareness about voting among the migrant workers of the tribal community.

Anil Tanwar, an expert on tribal culture, has written one such song - "Mamaar aavo, mamaar aavo re, vutu nakhane mamaar aavo re" (come quickly, come quickly, come quickly to vote).

He said due to lack of proper job avenues, tribals from Alirajpur as well as from Dhar, Jhabua, Khargone and Barwani districts move to Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and other states in large numbers.

Kirla Dodwa, the tribal from Madhya Pradesh who works in Gujarat, said over phone, "I do not have farming land in my village in Alirajpur district. We get higher wages in factories in Gujarat than in Madhya Pradesh. Therefore, I have to come to Gujarat with my family.” Asked if he was aware of the upcoming MP assembly polls, Dodwa, the father of two sons and a daughter, replied "no".

When he was informed that voting for the state assembly polls is to be held on November 17, Dodwa said he would take three-four days' leave from work and come to his village to cast vote, otherwise the village sarpanch would criticise him for not voting in the "big elections".