As in the 2014 Lok Sabha election the importance of young voters of Bihar––between the age of 18 and 25 or 30––is being highlighted by various public opinion-makers at different media forums.
According to them the youths played a very crucial role in building up an atmosphere in social media in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party all over the country during the run up to the 2014 Lok Sabha election.
No doubt this section campaigned for the BJP in a big way on the social media, yet so far exercising adult franchise in favour of any party in Bihar is concerned women have outnumbered them as the level of migration among the latter is much less.
Thus the importance of young voters is somewhat exaggerated. Being active on Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp is one thing and actually going to cast vote is different. In that way women have emerged as a very strong group of silent voters, while the youths are a talkative bunch, who seldom get opportunity to cast votes.
Millions of youths of Bihar are either studying in various educational institutions outside the state or are working in agricultural land, construction sites and industries. As a large section of them are seasonal or temporary migrants they are not voters of those places.
There is no exact figure of the outflow of students or labourers as it is a constant process. One must not confuse this section with the permanent migrants of Bihari origin living elsewhere with voter Identity Card of the place they are living.
As a large number of 18-30 age group are not the voters of the place where they are studying or working the maximum they can do is while away their time on social media during the leisure hour.
Lakhs of young farm labours travel all the way to the Green Revolution zone of Punjab, Haryana and west Uttar Pradesh in the last week of May and early June. That is the season of competitive examinations too. Therefore, one finds trains packed beyond capacity in this part of the country.
The seasonal farm labourers return by October after the harvesting is over. Thus their return often coincides with Diwali or Chhath. A visit to Old Delhi railway station in particular would help one get an idea about the real problem of the people as most of the trains to north Bihar to Punjab, Haryana and west UP pass through it.
If these agricultural labourers return by the election date in their respective constituencies this year they would be able to vote, if not they will miss the opportunity.
In their absence the percentage of women turnout is set to rise again as in 2010 Assembly election.
If the youths are not migrating to other states, they are moving within the state. Patna alone is temporary home to lakhs of youths––both stundets as well as working class. Not all of them return to their hometowns or villages to exercise their adult franchise as travelling during the election season is bit difficult as most of the vehicles are seized for election work. As they have to travel less some of them may overstay at their home for voting after or before festivals––either Durga Puja, Diwali or Chhath.
With the return of farm labourers start the seasonal migration of many industrial workers, mostly engaged in woollen garments industry in Punjab. But their number is much less. They return after the end of winter.
Of late even young girls are leaving their houses in lakhs to study elsewhere within Bihar or outside the state. In many colonies of Patna political parties are finding it difficult to get young workers to man the booth as the local youths have left while those residing in hostels and lodges are outsiders. They are neither the voters nor are they much familiar with the local situation.
It is the massive migration of male working force which led to the emergence of women sharecroppers in several districts of noth Bihar in 1990s. A study in this regard was made by an NGO, Adithi, run by (Viji Srinivasan then.
So the whole issue of young voters need to be studied again in proper perspective.