Young Edge: Aadhaar issues, lack of awareness reasons why many Pune youths do not have Voter IDs

What did students say?

Harshita Pawar, a student at Symbiosis Statistical Institute, said that she could not get her name registered in the voters’ list due to an issue with her Aadhaar card. “I had an issue with the spelling of my name on my Aadhaar card. I was trying to address or change it. However, processing the documentation took too much time, and I couldn’t register for the elections on time,” she explained.

Rimjim, an economics student at Symbiosis, too faced a similar issue. “My Aadhaar card is not updated as I kept moving around and my address kept changing,” she said.

The situation of Neha from DY Patil College, Akurdi, is no different. “I am 19, and the reason why I still don’t have a Voter ID is that while registering in my hometown, Solapur, I faced some issues with my Aadhaar card. Due to this I had to apply again, and now my application is still in process,” she said.

To a few others like Sahiti and Gayatri Bhalerao and Omkar Madhe, voting was not a priority and they could not find time to register. Sahiti, another economics student at Symbiosis, said, “I thought it was unnecessary. I am waiting to go back home after this year. It’s my final year. I am going to register and vote after that since it will be more convenient. I did take a look at the website but found it messy and confusing”.

Gayatri Bhalerao, a student at DY Patil University, said, “After Covid, I got busy with studies and college, so I couldn’t find time to register.”

On a similar note, Shruti Anvekar who is pursuing BBA from SPPU, said, “I just didn’t register.” Omkar Madhe, a student at MIT-WPU, said that he does not have the time to vote as college work keeps him busy.

Lack of knowledge about the registration process was also a factor among those who did not have a Voter’s ID card.

Sanika Shivramdas, a student at DY Patil University, said, “The awareness about how to get a voter ID is limited. As I am from a different city and studying here in Pune, I was not able to register myself as a voter this election. However, I am enthusiastic about voting and will register.”

Urvi Nagre, a student at MIT-WPU, said that she had seen the procedure to apply but did not understand the process in depth.

On the other hand, students from Vishwakarma Institute of Technology (VIT) said that their university organises voter registration drives for its students. Shreyas Dhone, a student at VIT originally from Sangli, said, “As first years we have to register on the voter’s website if we want to attend the freshers party.”

Another VIT student, Nishant Ninave, explained how registration was made a part of coursework at the college. “We have a subject, in which we had to register ourselves and get five other people registered. It was compulsory for everyone to get five people registered. Some had even gotten more. The college had also circulated a Google form in which we had to submit our PRN and voter IDs,” he said.

Rent agreement, hostel certificate enough for voter registration

Pune’s District Election Officer Minal Kalaskar told The Indian Express, “For enrolling your name in the voters’ list, you need your Aadhaar card. If you don’t have the Aadhaar card, any document which shows your photo identity can be used, your birth certificate and your resident certificate as well. Resident certificates could be documents like rent agreement, light bill, gas bill or tax receipt.”

Kalaskar also explained how a citizen does not need to change their permanent address to enrol in a locality’s voter list. “Even if you are sleeping in a place for more than seven days, you are an ordinary resident of the place. If you are staying in a hostel, the hostel warden/administration can give you a certificate that this person is staying in my hostel and you can enrol your name,” he said.

(Shayli Singkh, Rohan Deshpande, Aarushi Prakash, Mimansha Ojha, Vaishnavi Joshi are interns with The Indian Express)