Kerala to UP, students in Delhi have a single complaint: ‘Away from home, how do we vote?’

David isn’t alone. There are hundreds of students, who migrated from small cities and towns to study in Delhi’s universities, who are missing out on voting in the 2024 Lok Sabha election owing to geographical constraints.

“I have always been studying away from home so I could never get my voter ID made. I did my Bachelor’s from Banaras Hindu University. Then I came to Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) for my Masters… now I am in my second year of PhD,” says Nitish (24) from Bihar’s Araria. He is the secretary of AISA at JNU.

A student of Hindu College from Calicut, Kerala, who refused to be named, tells The Indian Express, “It’s the responsibility of political parties… they didn’t even release a notification or a poster for us to know about the change in address rule.”

Balagopal Menon, who is pursuing his PhD from IIT-Delhi, says he is concerned about missing out on voting. “I travel a lot because of my fieldwork. I was really hoping to vote through postal ballot but that isn’t an option available to students.”

Kulbushan, a UPSC aspirant living in Mukherjee Nagar, has decided to head home to Deoria to vote. “My location is not fixed. I stay in Karol Bagh or Mukherjee Nagar. That’s why I got my voter ID card made based on my permanent address.”

Akshat Ranjan, a journalism student at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, says it’s difficult for students to vote as many live in hostels and PGs and don’t have proof of residence. He suggested that college and hostel ID cards could be considered as proof.

Some student bodies have appealed to the Election Commission to simplify the process for student voters.

Delhi University Students’ Union president Tushar Dedha says, “I have written an application to the Chief Election Commissioner requesting to allow postal ballot voting for DU students who hail from different parts of the country.”

Ayush Rajput, president of the Electoral Literacy Club at Hindu College, says, “We arranged an awareness campaign, ‘Mera Pehla Vote’, to educate first-time voters… we made students pledge to vote in the college auditorium.”