Punjab polls: Over 12,400 to cast vote for first time in Ludhiana

In the impending Vidhan Sabha polls scheduled for early next year, a minimum of 12,459 youngsters from the district in the age group of 18-19 years will exercise their franchise for the first time to form a new state government.

This data has been recently compiled by the officials of district elections tehsildar office, who believe that this figure is likely to go up, as the data on voters will be collected until December end.

“Nearly 12, 459 youngsters in the upcoming Vidhan Sabha elections will bring in a new experience making them conversant with the process of voting and elections. However, we feel that the number of first-time voters will rise as we are still gathering information and it will be finally wrapped by January 2, next year which is also our final date to compile the overall data on voters,” shared Anju Bala, who heads the elections tehsildar office located in the district administration complex.

Throwing light on the top three constituencies of the district that seem to make the maximum contribution of first time voters for the upcoming elections, Gill, Dakha and Jagraon top with 1,438, 1,414 and 1,157 voters respectively while Atam Nagar scores the least with 427 voters followed by 533 voters from Ludhiana central and 544 voters from Ludhiana North.

Meanwhile, Rakesh Kumar, an official from the same office shared that there will be a total of 23, 72, 931 voters out of which 12,459 are the first time voters. Adding further he said, from the age groups 20-29 and 30-39 there will be 5, 31,902 and 6, 17,160 voters respectively.

Gauravdeep Singh, a college student, who is currently leading ‘I vote, I lead’ campaign along with the district administration to boost first time voters towards voting and is himself a first-time voter said, “As we go to different colleges and schools to inspire students for voting, it can’t be denied that there is huge excitement among all to be a part of electoral process. They go on to ask the officials many interesting questions related to voting.”

On the other hand, the district administration recently announced that from the different category of voters including the first timers, it will choose icons to motivate the citizens for voting through seminars and rallies.

Harmanjit Singh, 19, of Gujjarwal village, said, “I am really excited to vote for the first time. I have been hearing many interesting tales about voting from my elders and this time, I will be a part of it. Hope everyone will come forward to vote as every vote can make a difference.”