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Bihar elections halted the pace of Delhi-Mumbai

If this week your driver is on leave, the house help has taken a long leave, or there seems to be a change of guard in your office or society, then you are not alone. Big cities of the country like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad are facing an unexpected crisis these days. The reason is Bihar assembly elections. Due to the elections, a large section of people working in cities have returned to their home states, due to which there is a huge shortage of workers. Its direct impact is on people's pockets.

According to a report of Economics Times, there has been a jump of 10 to 12 percent in daily wages due to people going to their homes during Bihar elections. Although this is not just a matter of Bihar, the sound of elections to be held in West Bengal in the beginning of 2026 has also started being felt. These two states together provide the largest number of blue-collar workforce (workers) to the metros.

'Triple' attack of festivals, elections and weddings

Industry experts say that Bihar and West Bengal have long been the major states providing entry-level and semi-skilled workforce to the metropolitan cities of the country. People coming from these states handle a major part of hospitality, logistics, construction and domestic work.

According to Lohit Bhatia, President of Quess Workforce Management, this time the crisis is even deeper because Bihar elections have come just after Diwali and Chhath Puja. People had already gone home for festivals and now their vacation has become longer due to the elections. In a state with a population of 6.5 crore, most voters are seeing this as a long break. “This entire period is about 21 days, and it has severely affected the availability of migrant youth for frontline jobs,” explains Bhatia. Not only this, many workers are now likely to stay in their hometowns till the wedding season.

The lure of 'freebies' is pulling back

This migration is not limited to just the responsibility of voting. According to Karthik Narayan, CEO of 'Apna' job platform, voter nomination and inducements given by political parties are also a major reason for this. They have seen an increase in short-term travel among people coming from Bihar.

Political parties are luring these migrant voters with better jobs, land ownership rights and many other 'freebies' to bring them back. At the same time, Nitin Treekha, CEO of Bluespring, points to another important aspect. Workers are also being warned that if they do not return, their names may be removed from the voter list or they may be deprived of welfare schemes.

Apart from this, now economic opportunities are increasing at the local level in these states too and due to the government help provided through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), the dependence of the youth on coming to the cities and working has reduced.

Struggle to stop by giving advance and bonus

This manpower shortage has had a direct impact on industries and domestic employers. Especially the demand for pickers, packers, loaders, gig workers and drivers is sky-high, who traditionally come from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.

According to Bluespring's analysis, Bengaluru is the most affected by the crisis among all metros, where about 20 to 25 percent of domestic workers are on leave. To continue business, companies and employers are trying hard to retain their existing staff. They are being offered attendance incentives, bonuses and even advance payments. However, Aditya Mishra of CIEL HR Services says that instead of just increasing salaries, companies are now focusing on improving the living conditions of workers, giving them retention bonuses and ensuring better social security coverage, because they know that this problem is not limited to festivals only.

Is this a 'temporary' crisis?

Most experts believe that this is a temporary phase and people will start returning to work once the elections are over. But not everyone agrees with this. Meenakshi Gupta Jain of 'Helper4U' says that after the pandemic, a trend of some people going back forever had started, which is now gaining momentum.

He believes that most of those returning may be those who do not have valid documentation required to work in cities. However, he also says that the election promises do not seem to have any significant impact on the domestic help segment. However, it is certain that as long as this election season continues, big cities will have to struggle with the lack of 'helping hands'.