Assembly Elections 2026 | West Bengal, Assam polls lead to labour scarcity in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram: The assembly elections in West Bengal, Assam and Tamil Nadu have led to scarcity of manpower in many key sectors like construction, hotels-restaurants and fishing in Kerala as the migrant workers in large numbers have gone to their respective states for casting votes.

Industry sources say that unlike the previous elections, the flow of migrant workers for casting votes was quite high this time, especially those from West Bengal and Assam. This seems to be an outcome of the concerns caused by the Special Intensive Revision of the electoral rolls and the Citizenship Amendment Act.

The impact of the labour scarcity has been absorbed to a certain extent by the ongoing crisis in various sectors like hotels and construction due to the West Asia crisis.

NGOs working for the welfare of migrants point out that a major chunk of migrant workers in Kerala are from West Bengal and Assam and majority of them are from the Muslim community. Hence, there are more reasons for the mass exodus of migrant workers to cast votes.

Kerala is estimated to have at least 30 lakh migrant workers.

Benoy Peter, executive director of Centre for Migration and Inclusive Development, Kerala, a NGO involved in welfare of migrant workers, said that many areas on the suburbs of Kochi that are hubs of migrant workers were now wearing a deserted look.

"Around 40 percent of migrant workers in Kerala are from West Bengal and around 30 percent from Assam. There were serious concerns among them, especially those from minority communities, owing to SIR. Hence a major chunk of them had gone for voting. Once they go to their native place, they used to return only after a long leave. Hence the migrant workers' scarcity may last for some time," he said.

Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI) convenor general and national executive member S N Raghuchandran Nair also says that unlike the previous elections, there has been a mass exodus of migrants from West Bengal and Assam to cast votes in the elections. This has literally slowed down the construction sector, as manual labourers are required in various segments like tying steel bars and setting platforms for roof concrete work, he said.

There were also unconfirmed reports that the migrant workers were being pressurized by political parties in their native places through their families to cast votes and travel expenses were also offered to many.