Youngsters don’t want to raise voice beyond social media, only 1.37L first-time voters in Mumbai

While youngsters in the city constantly look for an opportunity to talk about various issues on social media, they don’t seem too keen on raising their voice on a platform where it would actually make a difference -- Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls.

Of the 3.5 lakh people in the 18-19 age group in the city, only 1.37 lakh have got their names on the electoral roll and will cast their vote for the first time this BMC elections.

The picture is no different in the state, where the first-timers are 12.07 lakh, lower than the estimated eligibility of 35 lakh youngsters. 

According to the revised summary rolls published on January 5, the city has 91.81 lakh voters, with an addition of 2.39 lakh voters across all age groups through the drive held in September and October last year.

 While the city has 7.89 lakh voters in the 20-25 age group, the state has 80.61 lakh. The city has 20.44 lakh, and the state has 1.97 crore voters in the 25-40 age group.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) undertook various campaigns on college premises, but the response from youngsters has been lukewarm, said an EC official.

“The response from first-time voters has always been lukewarm in cities. Getting the name registered and voting on the election day are not on youngsters’ priority list. One of the reasons for the apathy is the clumsy process of registration. The ECI, on the other hand, too should think of digital registration and linking it with Aadhaar number to make it easy,” said Nitai Mehta, founder trustee of Praja. 

The state election commission (SEC) has hiked the number of permissible star campaigners to 40 for national and state parties. There are 15 parties in the category.

The 190 parties registered with the SEC will be allowed to name 20 star campaigners

The number of permissible star campaigners for the 2012 civic elections was 20 for state and national parties and 10 for parties registered with the SEC

Star campaigners are political leaders named by the parties as their star campaigners. TV and film personalities, too, can be part of the list. The expenditure on the campaign by star campaigners is not included in the permissible amount of Rs5 lakh for each candidate. 

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