{"id":48132,"date":"2025-07-14T20:40:58","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T15:10:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=48132"},"modified":"2025-07-24T13:31:55","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T08:01:55","slug":"who-is-qualified-as-ordinarily-resident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/14-07-2025\/who-is-qualified-as-ordinarily-resident","title":{"rendered":"Who is Qualified as \u2018Ordinarily Resident\u2019?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/ Polity and Governance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Election Commission\u2019s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar has reignited debate over the eligibility of migrant workers as \u2018ordinarily resident\u2019 for voter registration.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Who is \u2018ordinarily resident\u2019?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The term <strong>\u201cordinarily resident\u201d<\/strong> is defined and interpreted through the Representation of the People Act, 1950 (RP Act), under Section 19 and Section 20.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Section 19 <\/strong>of the RP Act requires that a person is \u2018ordinarily resident\u2019 in a constituency for inclusion in its electoral roll.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Section 20 <\/strong>provides the <strong>meaning<\/strong> of the term \u2018ordinarily resident\u2019.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It specifies that mere ownership or <strong>possession of a house does not make one ordinarily resident<\/strong>.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>However a person temporarily absent from their place of residence will still be considered ordinarily resident there.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Specific categories of individuals (e.g., armed forces, government officials posted outside India, constitutional office holders) are deemed to be ordinarily resident in their home constituency despite being physically away.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 (RER)<\/strong> framed under the RP Act, governs the procedures for inclusion, exclusion, and corrections in electoral rolls.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The rules are executed by <strong>Electoral Registration Officers <\/strong>and supervise the application of the term &#8220;ordinarily resident.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Gauhati High Court in the Manmohan Singh case (1999),<\/strong> indicated that the term \u2018ordinarily resident\u2019 shall mean a habitual resident of that place.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It must be permanent in character and not temporary or casual. It must be a place where the person has the intention to dwell permanently.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Challenges for Migrant Workers<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>India has a large migrant workforce, especially from poorer regions like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Periodic Labour Force Survey (2020-21)<\/strong> estimates that around <strong>11%<\/strong> of Indians migrate for employment, which amounts to over <strong>15 crore<\/strong> people. Key Issues are;\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Temporary Nature of Migration:<\/strong> Most labourers migrate for short-term work and live in makeshift homes or worksite camps without permanent addresses.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Voter Identity and Registration Gaps: <\/strong>Many migrants fail to register as voters in their place of work due to lack of documentation and mobility.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Reluctance to Shift Voter Registration:<\/strong> Migrants have stronger social and economic ties with their home villages or towns. They choose to vote where their families live and their properties exist.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Disenfranchisement Risk: <\/strong>Removal from rolls in the original constituency, combined with no registration at the new workplace, may leave many completely disenfranchised.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Ahead<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Amendments in RP Act and RER:<\/strong> Introduce special provisions for migrant workers, akin to those for service voters and NRIs.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Allow dual documentation<\/strong> to maintain residence proof in the original place even while temporarily living elsewhere.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Use of Technology: <\/strong>Use Aadhaar-linked electoral rolls to ensure;\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>One person, one vote (preventing multiple registrations),<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Seamless transfer of voting rights across locations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Alternative Voting Mechanisms: <\/strong>Explore options like Postal ballots for migrants, Mobile polling stations at major work clusters, and Remote voting technologies piloted by the ECI.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/who-are-qualified-as-ordinarily-resident-explained\/article69808287.ece#:~:text=The%20Gauhati%20High%20Court%20in,the%\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>TH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">The Election Commission\u2019s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar has reignited debate over the eligibility of migrant workers as \u2018ordinarily resident\u2019 for voter registration.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Who is \u2018ordinarily resident\u2019?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">The term \u201cordinarily resident\u201d is defined and interpreted through the Representation of the People Act, 1950 (RP Act), under Section 19 and Section 20.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Section 19 of the RP Act requires that a person is \u2018ordinarily resident\u2019 in a constituency for inclusion in its electoral roll.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Section 20 provides the meaning of the term \u2018ordinarily resident\u2019.<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/14-07-2025\/who-is-qualified-as-ordinarily-resident\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read\u00a0More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48132"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49048,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48132\/revisions\/49048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}