By TwoCircles.net staff reporter,
New Delhi: Statistics give answer to the question in positive. It is estimated that 40% of Muslim votes in Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh migrate to other states including Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and Maharashtra and this affects electoral balance.
Concerned over the issue, Aas Muhammad, former MP from Bihar, filed a PIL with the Patna High Court on 23rd May. He has demanded that migrated labour from Bihar should be given voting right (postal voting or proxy voting) like paramilitary forces, employees on election duty and Kashmiri Pundits have been given. Similarly, the Indians who are working in Arab countries should also be given such right, he demands.
More than one crore people from Bihar are working in other states and in some foreign countries. This is the reason that Nitish Kumar government in Bihar and Mayawati government in U.P. could be formed even though they got minority votes. The BJP-JD(U) combine in Bihar got just 62 lakh votes and Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party could get only 1.5 crore votes.
It is said that 70 lakh Muslims from Eastern U.P. have gone out of the state to earn livelihood. Muslims constitute 16.5% in Bihar, 18.5% in U.P., 25% in West Bengal and 31% in Assam. These areas have been crucial in preventing communal forces from power. So migration of Muslim votes from these states is a serious question, says Aas Muhammad.