Ranchi: Data of the Election Commission of India, which revises electoral rolls every five years ahead of parliamentary and assembly elections, showed Santhal Pargana in Jharkhand shows no signs of sudden increase in electors which is directly linked with population growth.
The growth percentage of the electoral population in Jharkhand during the last five years from 2019 to 2024 has been 13.3% with Jharia in Dhanbad recording a growth of as low as 0.15% and Jamua in Giridih showing a growth of as high as 22.85%. In contrast, the 18 assembly seats of Santhal Pargana region have recorded a growth rate of 13.9%, which is close to the state average, indicating the growth was organic, without any spike that can be attributed to ‘unexplained influx' of people from anywhere.
The six assembly seats of Sahibganj and Pakur Rajmahal, Borio, Barhait, Littipara, Pakur and Maheshpur (it borders west Bengal and is often seen as infiltration-prone region) have shown an increase of 14.78% in electorate from the figures of 2019.
Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) state convener Sudhir Pal links this increase to reverse migration of population during the Covid-19 lockdown. "The rural pockets of Santhal Pargana are known to be very poor from where hordes of people migrate to other states in search of jobs. During lockdown they returned and hence there is a visible jump in the electorate, almost in every assembly seat this time," he said.
Electorate growth from 2014 to 2019 in most of these seats had been in single digits Borio (7.1%), Barhait (5.25%), Littipara (3.75%), Pakur (9.84%) and Maheshpur (7.54%). But in the next revision, the growth rate was comparatively higher. Most of the assembly segments in the state are indicating a similar jump in electorate growth. Pal links this growth to two factors reverse migration and laxity in de-registration of electors during revision of electoral rolls. Census figures show population of Santhal Pargana region has almost tripled in 60 years from 23.22 lakh in 1951 to 69.69 lakh in 2011.
Former director, Dr Ram Dayal Munda Tribal Welfare Research Institute, Ranendra says Bangladesh liberation occurred in 1971 and there was migration of population. "For poor Santhal and Pahariya tribes, borders didn't matter and they moved from one side to another in search of green pastures, it was linked to socio-economic reasons than political," he said.
The Santhal and Pahariya tribes have embraced Christianity over the years but since the tribals are counted as Hindus in the census, all such conversions reflect a decrease in Hindu population. "We have passed a resolution for inclusion of a separate ‘Sarna dharam' code in the census register, from our state assembly in November 2020 and sent it to the Centre. If BJP was really concerned about the dwindling population of the Santhal tribe, they would have immediately accepted our demand," said Kalpana Soren while talking to TOI earlier.