Urban Disconnect |
The release of Uttar Pradesh’s draft electoral rolls has done more than trigger routine political anxiety ~ it has revealed a structural disconnect between India’s urban reality and its electoral administration. When a large share of proposed deletions is concentrated in cities, the issue is less about political intent and more about how democracy copes with mobility. At first glance, the deletions appear procedural: uncollected enumeration forms, duplication, and address mismatches.
But the pattern is telling. Urban constituencies show disproportionately higher numbers of deletions not because city residents are disengaged, but because cities host a floating population that does not see the urban address as politically permanent. Millions who migrate from villages for work consciously retain their voter registration in their native places, where family ties, land, and local influence still matter more than the anonymity of the city. In that sense, the draft rolls are reflecting a choice as much as an omission. The city functions as an economic space,........