VISAKHAPATNAM: In every election, politicians come up with something new, be it schemes for the Gen-Y and women. This year too the focus of the elections is on youth with around 1 lakh new voters in the district, who are likely to cast vote. Gone are the days when the children of poor and lower middle class families were worried about higher studies. The youth today are in a majority in every constituency, who are attracted by the candidates’ promises of job opportunities.
Of the total 35,78,458 voters in the district, voters between 18 and 35 years of age account for about 37 per cent, which comes to 13 lakh. Among them, there are 8,05,153 voters between 18 and 29 years of age. Thanks to the awareness drives conducted by the district administration and other organisations, more people, especially youth, have registered themselves as voters.
The contest is so tough this time around that the candidates from the three main parties — the TDP, the YSRC and Jana Sena — are in a win-win situation. The candidates will have tough fight on hand with more youth casting their first vote. Targeting the unemployed youths of the State, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who is offering `1,000 as unemployment dole under the Yuva Nestham, has now promised to increase it to `3,000. Parties are also promising skill development programmes and jobs for youth by tying up with industries. However, the TDP and the YSRC are yet to release their election manifestos.
Meanwhile, Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan in the party’s manifesto promised a lot of things for the youth. The Jana Sena promises to include free education from KG to PG, laptops for Intermediate students, soft loans for higher studies and setting up 25,000 MSMEs for 2 million jobs.
In all the constituencies, majority of the households have at least an unemployed youth and new voters await good tidings after the election. Knowing the pulse of the youth, the candidates too are doing their bit by spreading the word on the promises in a big way by door-to-door campaigning.
“We want leaders to implement things, which are truly feasible for the youth to get benefit,” said Chakri, a city engineering student.