Kerala labour crunch as migrant workers return for polls amid SIR fears

Kerala is not the only state heading to the polls. Simultaneous assembly elections in Assam and West Bengal are pulling a significant share of Kerala’s migrant labour force back to their home states—and the impact is already being felt across several industries.

Migrants from West Bengal and Assam make up roughly 60% of the migrant workforce in Kerala. A large number have returned home to vote, creating a visible labour shortage in sectors ranging from construction to plywood manufacturing.


What is driving this exodus is not civic enthusiasm alone. The special intensive revision (SIR)—an electoral roll exercise aimed at weeding out bogus voters—has triggered widespread anxiety among migrants about their citizenship status. Many fear that skipping the vote could put their names at risk of deletion, or worse, raise questions about their citizenship under NRC-related concerns.

Benoy Peter, executive director of the Centre for Migration and Inclusive Development (CMID), explains the shift. “Until recently, migrant workers from Assam and West Bengal would only go home for local polls. They showed little interest in assembly or Parliament elections. That has changed. They are now going back for assembly elections because they fear losing citizenship if they fail to vote,” he said.

The labour drain is hitting the ground hard. Construction sites, plywood units and road works are short-staffed and contractors are scrambling to cope.

“The driver of my excavator has gone home to vote. I have to hire one from outside at considerable cost while mine sits idle,” said A R Saseedran, a contractor operating in the Perumbavoor and Pallikkara areas. Earnings for private buses have plummeted as migrant laborers, a demographic that once dominated daily passenger traffic, have returned to their home states.

Perumbavoor, one of Kerala’s busiest migrant labour hubs, is particularly affected. “Most people here have gone back, for SIR or for elections. The place looks almost empty,” said Thafazul Hoque, a migrant from Assam. Kerala’s Planning Board estimates the state’s total migrant population at around four million.

A small section of migrants has chosen to stay. Notably, the decision appears to follow community lines. “It is mostly Muslims who go back for elections. As I am Hindu, I feel there won’t be any issues even if I don’t vote,” said Vikram Ranyas, a migrant worker at a Perumbavoor bakery.

The timing has compounded the shortage further. Eid coinciding with the election period gave more migrants reason to make the trip home. A simultaneous LPG shortage, which forced many hotels to shut temporarily, left migrant hotel workers with little reason to stay back.

Even the essential logistics of election campaigns, from erecting massive hoardings to pasting billboards, have been hit by the shortage of migrant workers.