Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the chief election commissioner Sunil Arora have been stressing on the importance of the first- time voters participating in the election as being the future of the participatory democracy. In view of the focus being trained on them, it is interesting to know how the youngsters who are going to exercise their franchise for the first time are feeling now, less than a month left for the election.
The Pioneer has talked to some of the first-time voters living in the city to know their views on the matter.
A majority of them sounded excited.
They said they are eagerly looking up to the day when they would throng the booths to cast vote for the first time.
Asked about his expectation from the election, Vivek Singh, a student and a first-time voter, said, “I do not have much expectation from the parties. However, I like the way Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) is trying to connect with the people through an intelligently crafted campaigning machinery. They seem to be far ahead of others in terms of their ability to strike the right chord with the electorate.”
Another first- time voter Komal Preet Kaur said, “I am very much excited about voting for the first time. I have no confusion regarding how to cast vote. I know about the process of voting through the electronic voting machine,” she said. Asked about her preference for the election, she said, “I would vote for the party which can safeguard the nation’s interests best in the face of the Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. The deterrent air strike is the right step in the right direction,” she said seriously.
Shivani Semwal, another student set to cast vote for the first time, said, “I am really excited over going out to cast my vote for the first time. I would vote for the party which is serious about development, in general, and education, in particular. Education should gain precedence over other things. I will decide at the right time which party to vote for.”
Nikita Bisht, another such voter, said, “It is a good feeling to vote for the first time. I will vote for the party which has done something good in the past and which can foresee a bright future of the nation and strive to make it a reality.’’
Prashant Bathwal said, “I am going to vote for a candidate who is just not a face of a political party. He or she must have some original ideas to solve the ground-level problems. I will read the manifestos of the contending parties as to whether they are giving grass-root development the place it deserves and then I will decide.”
Kriti Sharma, a student, said, “Yes I am very excited about voting for the first time. Once I will cast my first vote it will make me a legally responsible citizen of the nation. I will vote for the party which values development of the youth and generation of employment opportunities for us.”