The choice of first-time voters can wield a decisive influence in the Parliamentary elections in the state as the new voters outnumber the winning margin of candidates in the 2009 elections in most of the constituencies by a long shot. Malappuram with 1,58,192 new voters tops the list followed by Ponnani with 1,54,727, where the Muslim League holds considerable sway. In Wayanad constituency, which the Congress considers as a safe seat, the number of new voters is 1,27,718.
“It’s not necessary that new voters follow a homogenous pattern. Also, their choice mat not be issue-based, as in the case of most adults. Even in colleges, they usually do not engage themselves in serious political discussions. Most of the students tend to concentrate on the project in hand or their studies. They use the social media to interact with friends on topics of their interest, not necessarily politics,” said political scientist J Prabhash. Also, Ernakulam (1,07,987), Attingal (1,31,926) Palakkad (108,086) and Kasargod (1,07,402)constituencies have over 1 lakh new voters. In contrast, there are only 45,361 new voters in Kottayam and 45,743 in Chalakkudy constituencies, which recorded the lowest number of first-time voters in 2014.
According to Nigil George, state committee member of AAP and social media in charge, Kerala, the youth in the state is a disappointed lot. “They had resigned to the fate that whichever party came to power, the situation won’t get any better in the state. But, the emergence of AAP has given them that much-needed hope of better future prospects. Our Facebook page has received over 3,50,000 ‘likes’ till date in Kerala, which is much higher than in the other south Indian states,” Nigil said. Asked about the allegation that political parties and leaders are employing public relation agencies to increase the number of likes on their Facebook pages, Nigil said AAP did not engage in any unethical practices and the number of ‘likes’ was consistent throughout the year. He said that the social media helped the party give clarifications on issues, update national events, inform the criteria of the candidate selection process, etc. The popular issues being debated among the youths are the ‘call to change the system’ and ‘introduction of the right to recall a candidate’.
“The youth is our future and the Congress has been focussing on ‘inclusive growth’, in which both public and private sectors have a role to play by providing employment to the youth. If there are defects in the neo-liberal policies, the party is ready to correct and move forward. The start-up villages set up in the state have created a new class of youngsters. They are not ‘job seekers’ anymore, but ‘job holders’. And eventually, they will become ‘job providers’,” said T Siddique, UDF candidate in Kasargod.