BJP Launches Post-Chhath Drive to Keep Migrant Workers Back for Bihar Polls

With Bihar’s Assembly elections looming on November 6 and 11, 2025, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is racing against time, launching a door-to-door campaign to convince millions of migrant workers returning for Chhath Puja to stay and vote. As the festival wraps up around October 29, these workers, drawn home by sacred rituals, face a wrenching choice: linger up to nine days for Phase 1 voting, risking lost wages, or rush back to jobs across India and abroad. The BJP, sensing a make-or-break moment in the 243-seat battle, is betting big on turning this festive homecoming into an electoral jackpot.

Government data lays bare the stakes: 45.78 lakh Biharis work outside the state, with 2.17 lakh abroad, forming a 4.8 million-strong voting bloc. In 2020, their turnout helped the NDA eke out a narrow victory—75 seats to the Mahagathbandhan’s 75—keeping Nitish Kumar’s coalition afloat. Now, with margins tighter than ever, the BJP can’t afford to let these voters, often from OBC, EBC, and SC communities, slip away. Losing them could propel the opposition’s Tejashwi Yadav to the chief minister’s chair, a prospect that has the saffron camp in a frenzy.

The party’s plan is laser-focused: within 48 hours of Chhath’s end, booth-level workers will swarm high-migration districts like East Champaran (6.14 lakh migrants), Patna (5.68 lakh), Siwan (5.48 lakh), Muzaffarpur (4.31 lakh), and Darbhanga (4.3 lakh). Armed with emotional pleas and practical fixes, cadres are calling employers in Delhi, Gujarat, and beyond to secure extended leaves and even organizing post-poll transport to ease workers’ burdens. “We’re not just chasing votes; we’re sparking a democratic fire,” a BJP source told NDTV, framing the push as a mission to empower Bihar’s working poor.

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This isn’t a spur-of-the-moment gambit. Since June, 150 BJP leaders have canvassed 28 states, surveying 2.75 crore non-resident Biharis on everything from jobs to political loyalties. Timed with Chhath’s mass return—fueled by special trains—the party is weaving voter outreach into festive gatherings. In Seemanchal and Mithilanchal, “sneh milans” with Chhath committees morph into subtle vote rallies. Spokesman Manoj Sharma dubs it a “game-changer,” projecting a turnout surge that could tip thousands of votes per constituency, especially in neck-and-neck races.

But the road is fraught with obstacles. Migrants like Araria’s Ravi Yadav face grim math: a week’s lost wages could mean a month’s groceries. “The BJP promises support, but who pays for my kids’ food?” he asked. Train bookings from Kerala to Punjab are jammed into mid-November, and voter list errors from the Election Commission’s recent revisions add to the chaos. Rivals like the RJD slam the campaign as “coercive,” while AIMIM’s Seemanchal push and Congress’s Kanhaiya Kumar rallying against joblessness threaten to split the migrant vote along caste and economic fault lines.

For the BJP, this is a high-wire act. Transforming Chhath’s joyous reunion into a vote bonanza could lock in their dominance, proving that even Bihar’s wandering workers hold the key to power. As cadres hit the ground post-puja, the fight is on to make every migrant a kingmaker. Will they stay for the “festival of democracy,” or will the paycheck’s pull win out? November’s polls will reveal whether the BJP’s gamble pays off or leaves them grasping at a fading saffron wave.

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