Sandhya Kushwaha, a third-year political science student at LD Arts College in Ahmedabad, is eager to get back home to Olpad in Surat to cast her vote on May 7 — the day Gujarat goes to polls in the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
The 19-year-old is among the 12 lakh first-time voters who have registered this time. “I do not want to miss this chance, to experience voting for the first time. I will get to know first hand what I have seen only in awareness videos — the voting process and machinery,” the political science student told The Indian Express.
Shreejit Limbachiya, another 19-year-old who is pursuing post-graduation in Ahmedabad, is equally excited about his first vote. He feels that the Election Commission’s social media campaigns have helped encourage youths to vote.
On May 7, 11.93 lakh first-time voters (in the 18-19 years age group) are expected to cast their maiden votes in Gujarat. This is nearly double the number compared to 2019 elections when there were 6.99 lakh voters in the same age group and 4.51 crore voters in total.
Yet, this year’s 12 lakh maiden voters are less than the 2022 Assembly election figures when 13.14 lakh first-time voters in the 18-19 age group had registered, according to the Statistical Information Reports from the Chief Electoral Officer.
There are 6.93 lakh (58 per cent) males, 4.99 lakh (42 per cent) females and 33 third-gender voters among the first-time voters this time.
At 1.07 lakh, Ahmedabad has the highest number of registered first-time voters this time, followed by Surat at 96,422. “Because of the awareness campaigns on social media, many first-time voters in my group have got themselves registered and got their voter cards made,” says Limbachiya.
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Of the total 4.93 crore registered voters in Gujarat, 2.54 crore are men and 2.39 crore are women, in addition to 1,503 transgender voters. The number of voters this time has risen by 43.23 lakh compared to the 2019 elections.
Gujarat Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) P. Bharathi is going an extra mile to spread awareness among the youth by organising special awareness camps at campuses. Emphasising the importance of democracy and the power to make a choice, she has herself led offline campaigns at university campuses to motivate the youth to vote.
“The Camp-at-Campus campaign is one of the several measures we are taking to motivate the first-time voters to use their right to vote,” Bharathi said.
At these camps, students are also asked to upload one-minute videos encouraging others to vote on social media platforms.
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According to Parag Kalal, a second-year commerce student at H. L. College in Ahmedabad, “The special camps are more informative when the first-time voters have been even shown how to vote on a voting machine”.
Het Shah, 22, who has never voted earlier due to a “lack of awareness” and is set to exercise her franchise this time, echoes similar views.
“I could not vote in 2022 as I was not aware that I can get registered online. This time, due to the extensive camps organised on the campus, I learnt about these facilities that are much easier,” says the final-year B.Com student from Ahmedabad.
At the same time, Kushwaha and Limbachiya agree on the prevalent urban apathy when it comes to voting.
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Both are of the view that the motivation to vote comes from inside and today’s youth cannot be forced.
“Everyone knows that our one vote is important in democracy. But from my experience, after being part of voter awareness campaigns myself, I agree that there is hesitation among youngsters who are of the view that why should they stand in long queues. But if it comes from a sense of self-determination, they will certainly vote,” says Kushwaha.
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