‘Voting is a luxury I cannot afford’

Achu Uddin Miya works at a momo shop in Jaipur and makes a meagre salary. He travels back to his native place in West Bengal, where his family lives, only if it’s utterly necessary. A trip involves not only spending three days in the unreserved compartment of the train and the travel expenses but also a pay cut for the leave taken. Going there to cast his vote in assembly or Lok Sabha polls is a luxury he might not be able to afford, ever.

“I left West Bengal at a young age and never had the time or the understanding really to transfer my vote to Rajasthan. I know the value of each vote but have to work to make ends meet.

"I have no idea of the processes involved in registering to vote in Jaipur,” Achu Uddin said.

The West Bengal native has never voted in the past 13 years as his name is registered in his home state and sees little chance of the situation changing in the time to come. Further, he isn’t sure whether he should transfer his vote to Jaipur.

All this made Achu Uddin one of the 280 million lost votes in India — people who were not able to vote in the 2014 general elections as their jobs had seen them leave the place where they are registered as a voter.

“I really hope the system changes so that people like me who are working away from their homes are able to vote from anywhere in the country with proper identity cards. My vote should also count,” said Achu Uddin.