RAIPUR: As the enrolment process of first-time voters and those left out of the electoral rolls in Chattisgarh is scheduled to get over by August 21 - the day when the Election Commission draws up the final voter list, the political parties have geared-up to tap the youths who will be exercising their franchise for the first time.
In Chattisgarh, there is going to be 1.18 lakh new voters in 18-19 year category who will be voting during the Assembly polls due later this year. The new voters though is around 0.70 per cent of the State's eligible electorate population. However going by the vote-share in 2013 elections, the BJP secured just 0.77 pc more than the Congress and in a nail-biting finish the saffron party won 10 seats more than the main opposition in a 90-member Vidhan Sabha, the role of the young voters has been cited to be significant.
Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morcha (BJYM) and National Students Union of India (NSUI) - the respective youth wings of the BJP and the Congress are reaching out to higher educational institutions, various events of youths, hostels and through the social media to connect with the young new voters and associate them with their respective party ideologies.
While the BJP plans to recognise the new voters after the final publication of the voters' list, the Congress has set up a team of 10 youths at every booth-level who are engaged in felicitating the registration of new voters in the electoral rolls. Political analysts though believed that the youths in Chattisgarh might not think much different from the general population. The Raman Singh Government gets some head start owing to the earlier launched schemes intended for youths that are based on skill development, start-up Chattisgarh, smartphone-laptop distribution among others.
The parties are working on the major issues related to youths as there equally remains an effort to enrol the youths as the members. The BJP has aimed to create 200 social media volunteers at every block level while the Congress has reconstituted social media team for each 90 Assembly segment. The focus is to open up to the young and first-time voters before the polls.
The Election Commission has begun 1400 Electoral Literacy Clubs (ELC) in schools and colleges under the Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) with an objective to strengthen and augment electoral literacy and culture of electoral participation among the young and future voters.