The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) youth wing has decided to launch a special campaign to target new voters who were born in the 21st century. Named as the Millennial Voters’ Campaign, the drive, which will start from 26 January, will focus on about 2 crore youths born in 2000 and will attain the age of 18 years, thus becoming eligible to vote for the first time in this year’s Assembly elections and Lok Sabha elections next year.
Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) spokesperson Shivam Chhabra told this newspaper that his organisation would visit colleges, malls and other “youthful places” where new, prospective voters will be contacted. “It is not going to be a membership drive for the BJP. This will be in fact a voters’ registration campaign, in which we will facilitate enrolment of their names in the electoral rolls so that they are able to exercise their franchise,” Chhabra said. He said these youths are born in the 21st century and therefore, they have got different ambitions, aspirations. “This effort will help us to connect with them, understand their issues and try to address them,” he said. There will also be an app by which it will be very easy for them to get voter identity cards. The effort is also aimed at motivating new voters not to go for the NOTA option. This is in the wake of reports that many youths prefer voting for the NOTA option at the time of voting. A meeting of the youth wing was held last week to work out the details of the campaign. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also stressed on the importance of new voters in his recent “Mann Ki Baat”. “We welcome those born in the 21st century to the democratic system as they will become eligible voters,” he said. PM Modi also talked about the importance of the “New India” that these young people help build.