Students staying away from political hullabaloo this time

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Amritsar, January 24

Unlike previous years, the pre-poll participation of students this time seems to be dull.

Earlier, rallies and campaigns run by major political parties used to recruit young volunteers to run ground campaigns, to engage with community to prepare election agendas. But this time around, young voters, mostly students, have limited their participation to running social media awareness campaigns and shunning any particular political affiliation.

“One of the reasons could be that most political parties have failed to give fresh, young faces and the poll promises, too, seem worn out. No traditional political party has been able to meet the demands of the youth, especially the student segment,” says Jatindervir Singh, research scholar from GNDU.

President of the Research Scholars’ Union, Jatindervir shares that most students are divided over their political affiliation as they want to give all parties a fair chance. “The fact remains that any party or the candidate that will consider demands of students in their election manifesto will have our support,” he said.

Jatindervir has been organising interactive campaigns with political candidates in villages for voter engagement. His friends and fellow students have been participating in door-to-door campaigning for several parties including AAP, SAD, but largely it’s just restricted to a few hours of hosting small interactive sessions.

Another reason for low participation of students in ground campaigning is the conduct of online exams. “The examinations were earlier scheduled to be held in December got delayed due to teachers’ strike and later closure of colleges due to Covid-19. At a time when most political campaigning activity is happening, students are busy giving online examinations, sometimes two exams are scheduled in a day, keeping them indoors,” says Manvir Singh, a BTech student from the city.

Manvir has previously participated in roadshows and poll rallies of political parties, but this time around, he chose to stay away from political hullabaloo.

Limiting their poll participation to social media platforms, several students from DAV College have been performing plays, poetry and speech regarding voter awareness initiatives. Posting these plays and content on social media platforms for larger reach, the district SVEEP officials are also supporting this online unique campaign.