Democracy can be fraught in a country without a headcount

In states like Bihar, this problem of low documentation is magnified. Home to 130 million but with a human development score similar to Haiti, Bihar is crucial to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) hold on national power. So it isn’t surprising that politics in India right now revolves almost entirely around the state’s election later this year.

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Even as the most populous state of Uttar Pradesh seemed to sour somewhat on the ruling BJP in the general election of 2024, Bihar has stayed solid. The BJP won three-quarters of its constituencies, the same proportion it did in 2014. The party needs to demonstrate it still has a chokehold on politics there. The opposition alleges that, to eke out the win it needs, the ruling party is misusing government machinery—including through voter suppression.

A 25-year-old Bihari, for example, was born at a time when the state was even poorer, and just 3.7% of births were registered with the government. This lack of official data makes planning and delivering social services very difficult. 

During emergencies—such as the pandemic lockdowns—the Indian government didn’t know how many internal migrants would be affected by their inability to work. It seemed surprised by the many hundreds of thousands who trekked back home to their villages from Indian cities in search of food and shelter.

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Many of those labourers were heading to Bihar. They would have had little proof of their identity on them, other than a digital identity number called Aadhaar and perhaps a voter ID card. If the latter is taken away and the first rendered useless [as a claim to Indian citizenship], your vote could be in question. In some poverty-ridden parts of the country, democracy can look a little like feudalism: As access to state services could be closely linked to your ability to provide local strongmen with political support, staying on the voter roll can [even be a survival issue].

In June this year, India’s election commission announced that it would revise Bihar’s voter lists. The opposition challenged this decision immediately, fearing that as many as 30 million Biharis could potentially be struck off the electoral rolls, possibly giving the BJP an edge.

Across the world, an increase in the documentation required to vote privileges richer, better-connected groups. In the US, for example, Republicans in the House of Representatives pushed through a requirement in April that voters provide proof of citizenship while registering to vote—usually through a passport or some other form of ID. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer has described this effort as being “about making it harder to vote and easier to cheat.”

Similar arguments are being rehearsed in India. The BJP insists that too many non-citizens are capable of voting. The opposition fears that marginalized groups that typically don’t vote for the BJP may get disenfranchised.

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The requirements for voter registration that India’s election commission has set would be difficult to satisfy even in most of the West. Those born after 1987, for example, must provide both their birth certificates or passports, as well as a parent’s. Those born after 2004 will have to prove both parents were born in India. This sounds particularly unrealistic in Bihar, which was barely governed for decades [and has a poor documentation record].

Indians have long muddled through with a mix of IDs, most of which serve different purposes. Not many have passports and driving licences, but many have ‘voter ID cards,’ which the election commission has handed out since the 1980s, or ‘ration cards,’ which are issued by state governments and entitle you to subsidized food. More than a decade ago, New Delhi also introduced a digital ID, Aadhaar, which was meant to simplify this confusing mess. Almost everyone in India has an Aadhaar number now and the system serves as the backbone for everything from health records to digital payments. But it doesn’t prove your right to vote.

Officials in  India’s election commission should recognize that they have a responsibility to ensure every possible vote is cast. And political leaders should finally own up to the problems created by their inability to count their people.  ©Bloomberg

The author is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist.