Exercising voting rights for first time

Ajay Joshi 

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, May 19

Contrary to the registration of 30,360 first time voters in the district, not much turnout percentage of ‘first time voters’ (in the age group 18-21 years) was recorded at different polling booths in the region. The youth moving abroad is seen as a reason for the same. At two different polling booths in Nakodar, only 20, out of the 50 young voters, had voted till 3 pm. After the last hours of voting, Amandeep Singh, a Booth Level Officer (BLO) at Government Girls Senior Secondary Smart School, claimed that the tally of such voters went up to only thirty. 

While compiling the total number of votes polling, the Presiding Returning Officer (PRO), Vijay Kumar, at the polling booth 65 in Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Ladowali Road, said only fourteen first-time voters registered their vote in the day. Similarly, PRO Vinod Kumar at another polling booth in the same school stated, “Out of the 563 total votes polled, there were only 10 new voters. This was way less than the expected number as not even 50 per cent of first time voters turned up at the polling booths. Furthermore, at most of the polling booths in the city, the polling data of the first time voters ranged between 5 and 15. Interestingly, some of the voters could not cast their votes due to absence of their names from the voters list. 

The migration of youngsters was predicted as the major concern of the low turnout at the polling booths in the city and at villages. Jaswant Kaur, a resident who had come to cast her vote at the Khalsa School on Ladowali Road, said both her sons were studying abroad, and hence couldn’t come to vote. 

Meanwhile, some of the young voters also complained about the unavailability of certificates to be issued to them by the Election Commission of India (ECI). Madhav Sikka, a first time voter, submitted an online complaint to the ECI that in the polling station at Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Nehru Garden, Jalandhar, the Presiding Officer had not given him the certificate of being a first time voter. He said, “I was demoralized. The ECI had announced that all first time voters will be given a certificate but even after requesting the presiding officer and the BLO, I didn’t get it.” Atul, another first time voter who registered his vote in Nakodar, stated that he wasn’t given the certificate until he fought with the officials and no discount coupons for refreshments at restaurants were provided as well.

Meanwhile, some happy faces of first time voters were also noticed at various polling booths. Gurpreet Kaur, another first voter, said she was so excited to cast her vote for the first time, however, she wasn’t able to decide the apt candidate before polling as she hadn’t observed development in the ruling of subsequent governments.