Amritsar, January 25
The nation on Tuesday observed National Voters’ Day, but strangely only 24 per cent of the voters in the 18-19 age group applied for getting the voter ID card in the district. The district has 90,524 voters in this age group. Of them, only 22,036 applied for voter cards.
Today’s youngsters are under extreme stress due to disruptions in education and job placement in the past two years. So, they are not motivated to join the electoral process. Dr Amit Chopra, Assistance Placement Officer at GNDU
It is a matter of concern that less than a quarter of young voters (90,524) applied for the voter ID cards. This despite the fact that the Election Commission had organised a number of activities focused on first-time voters.
District Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) Programme had organised a string of activities focusing on first-time voters.
Naresh Shaurya Johar, a senior citizen, says it seems that young voters have become indifferent to the biggest festival of democracy. Shrinking job opportunities, peer pressure to perform and overseas dreams have burdened these young voters like never before. So there is a possibility that a large number of them may have gone abroad to pursue their studies and professions, he says.
The trend is not limited to the district, but it can be noticed in the entire state. There are 9,30,406 voters in this age group in the state. Of them, 2,78,962 applied for votes. The neighbouring district of Tarn Taran recorded the minimum number of youngsters applying for votes. It has 41,594 voters in the 18-19 age group and only 8,204 applied for votes.
In a recent interaction with Dr Amit Chopra, Assistance Placement Officer at Guru Nanak Dev University, stated that today’s youngsters were under extreme stress due to disruptions in education and job placement in the past two years. So they were not motivated to join the electoral process.
Shaurya Talwar, a 20-year-old local youth, said he was pursing law here, but wanted to move abroad hoping for a bright future as there was a dearth of opportunities.
Five Newly registered voters honoured by DEO-cum-DC in Tarn Taran
Tarn Taran: The district administration on Tuesday virtually observed National Voters’ Day in which voters were apprised of the importance of their right to vote. The voters vowed to cast their vote definitely. On the occasion, five newly registered voters were honoured with their Electoral Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) by DEO-cum-DC Kulwant Singh. District Election Officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner Kulwant Singh presided over the function while Additional Deputy Commissioner Jagwinderjit Singh Grewal, District Revenue Officer Aditya Gupta were among others who attended the function. Kulwant Singh said the voters, particularly newly registered voters of the age of 18-19, were apprised of the importance of the casting vote and asked them to cast their vote. He said the move to make the voters aware had been launched for the last six months through SWEEP activities. Students of educational institutions had been involved in these activities, he added. OC
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