Pune: Youths and first time voters, decisive, diligent, dutiful

“I am still not old enough to vote but that does not mean I can’t contribute to our country’s democratic processes,” said Sarika, adding, “I am a class 12 student so when there was a call for volunteers at my school, I immediately took it up.” Volunteers like her have proved to be essential to the entire voting exercise.

Another youngster, 20-year-old Russell Robinson, stood outside a polling booth at MIT World Peace University, making Instagram reels as part of a campaign to promote voter awareness and show how diverse India’s voting population is. He will leave for Mumbai the coming week to cast his own vote on May 20.

A Pharmacy student, Robinson said he is surprised to find youngsters around him interested in politics and affairs of the country. He said, “While local level politics is pretty important, I like to keep the national picture in mind while voting. Education is a major issue and unemployment is really biting the youth.”

Russell (right) working on a social media campaign on diversity of voters (Express Photo)

While the young did not seem to have read the actual manifestos of parties, many seemed quite confident of their choice. First-time voters and college students Vanashree Kakad (21) and Siddhi Jadhav (20) said they relied on social media and other popular campaigns to make their choice.

Jadhav said, “I focus more on the national level contest than local politicians. I evaluated how the government performed in the past couple of years and made a decision depending on that.” She believes education and digital access are two major issues for the youth.

“We are going for parties and politicians we have heard most about,” said a brother-sister duo who cast their first votes at the MIT polling booth. Krishna (18) and Gargi Pawar (21) were not aware of the names of LS candidates for the Pune seat but had made their choice relying on the national picture instead. “The process of registering and voting was smooth,” they added.

On the other hand, there were some like 19-year-old Shivam Shinde who voted for whoever their family told them about. Shivam said, “I did not have to face any problem registering as my mother completed the entire process for me. I also do not really know much about politics so I just consulted my mother.”

Meanwhile some youngsters faced issues either during registration or at the polling booth. Aditya Kale, a 20-year-old engineering student after voting in Katraj said, “I was excited to vote for the first time but was not impressed with the system in place. I decided to cast my vote for the candidate who would be available for common people in resolving their public issues. I have high expectations from whoever becomes the MP of Pune.”