Parties mobilising youth wings to go the extra mile in wooing first time voters
Over the last few days, several programmes were held by different political parties to woo the youth, particularly catering to first-time voters.
4 min read
In February, a new initiative titled NaMo Warriors was launched, wherein 50 young voters from each college were to be trained in creating awareness on the development brought in by the BJP government in various sectors. The initiative was aimed at persuading fellow young voters to vote wisely. Come April and nearly 1.78 crore first time voters will exercise their right to vote in the Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra. While there is a belief that young voters, who constitute nearly 20 per cent of Maharashtra’s existing voter rolls, are disinterested and disengaged from the country’s political process, political parties in the state launched a sustained campaign to woo many of these first time voters, many of whom are students, to their side.
Over the last few days, several programmes were held by different political parties to woo the youth, particularly catering to first-time voters. The programmes, from conducting awareness on the electoral process to setting up kiosks for new registrations, included customised activities to cater to first time voters. All members of youths wings were mobilised to conduct election related programmes in their capacity.
Two weeks ago, the Rashtrawadi Yuvak Congress held gatherings with an aim to bring all youth units and young members of the wing together. The agenda was to educate them on the party’s social media stand, ways to create online buzz and a strategy to persuade young or first-time voters.
Mumbai president of the Rashtrawadi Yuvak Congress, Amol Matele, said, “This is a very important election and the youth will play a major role as they are huge in number. They have to be made aware of the reality of issues such as unemployment, inflation etc., which they will be staring at if they do not vote wisely.”
Matele also shared that special combined meetings comprising members of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) youth wings were held across Maharashtra under the banner of ‘Yuva Maharashtra Melava’. Matele said, “The idea is to create a cadre of youths working toward a shared goal, “Persuading young voters to examine the Modi Guarantee.”
He said that a war-room was created with potentially talented members from different youth wings to review various initiatives and schemes launched in the past 10 years by the current government and present a real picture before the youth by way of social media campaigns, youth gatherings, etc.
The BJP Yuva Morcha on the other hand was working with the exact opposite motto. Tajinder Singh Tiwana, Mumbai president of the BJP youth wing, said, “The new voters might take the facilities today for granted as they were only kids before Modiji became Prime Minister and changed the situation. There is a need to educate them on various developments brought in by the BJP government.”
The youth wing had already held various programmes in college campuses addressing first-time voters under the centrally launched initiative Mera Pehla Vote Desh Ke Liye (My first vote for the country). In February, a new initiative titled NaMo Warriors was launched, wherein 50 young voters from each college were to be trained in creating awareness on the development brought in by the BJP government in various sectors. The initiative was aimed at persuading fellow young voters to vote wisely. The programme was launched in one of Mumbai’s colleges. “NaMo Warriors are themselves first time voters who we are educating, and they are going to play an important role in persuading other young voters as they are easier to relate with and approachable,” said Tiwana.
The National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) too took steps to woo first-time voters. Going by the Paanch Nyay manifesto declared by its mother party, the youth wing was tasked with taking it to young voters. State vice president of NSUI, Faisal Shaikh, said, “Apart from word of mouth publicity by mobilising our multiple units spread across districts, we have also begun to create social media buzz around the campaign to reach young voters. Based on the data of new voters, especially through our registration desks, we plan to now hold youth meetings at district, taluka levels.”
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