Bengaluru, Oct. 11 -- As the festive season brings thousands of migrant Biharis back home from Karnataka, political parties see an unprecedented opportunity to turn the homecoming rush into a surge in voter turnout for the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections.
The convergence of Diwali, Chhath, and the two-phase Bihar polls - on November 6 and 11 - has added a new dimension to the migration-politics equation. With most migrants planning their travel around these festivals, parties are working overtime to engage them before they leave and persuade them to cast their votes once they reach home.
The strategy marks a shift in how parties view migrant workers - no longer as a dispersed, unreachable group, but as an influential electorate in trans...