Young voters account for almost half of the total 14.40 crore voters in UP.
Uttar Pradesh, the state with 80 Lok Sabha seats, is all set to decide who will occupy the seat of power in New Delhi. In this, the state’s 7.42 crore young voters aged 18 to 39 will play a decisive role in the outcome of the elections.
Armed with gadgets and the internet, young voters are quietly enjoying all the attention they are getting from all parties. When it comes to voting, the young voters are expected to express themselves whole-heartedly in all seven phases of the election in the state between 19 April and 1 June.
Considering that young voters account for almost half of the total 14.40 crore voters in UP, they appear to hold the key to the success of Lok Sabha candidates in almost all seats. This is the reason why all parties are making promises for their welfare.
Out of the 7.42 crore young voters, 22 lakh are aged 18-19 and they will be voting for the first time. Almost 3 crore young voters are aged between 20-29. And 4.2 crore voters are aged between 30-39.
To connect with young voters, the BJP is contacting first-time voters at their homes to seek suggestions from them on development and governance. Youth choupals and sammelans are being organised at gram panchayat level. A first-time voters’ dialogue launched by the party has also seen brief virtual interaction with participants, said a party leader.
The BJP’s Yogi Adityanath government in the state has also presented a report card-of-sorts to showcase its initiatives for the youth, highlighting that unemployment rate in the state has come down to 2.4% from 19% in 2017, when the BJP government came to power. The list of his achievements includes giving government jobs to 6.5 lakh youths, skill training for 17 lakh youths, assistance in launching 500 start-ups, initiation of recruitment process for 10,000 multi-tasking jobs and appointment letters issued to the youth under Centrally-sponsored schemes.
The Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party has tried to win over young job-seekers with a promise to offer the old pension scheme in all new recruitments; justice for 69,000 aspiring teachers who have been on protest over reservation in appointment; early filling of vacancies in government departments and police recruitment on merit instead of the current system of conducting a test.
The Congress, which is just a small player in Uttar Pradesh, has tried to woo young voters by highlighting Rahul Gandhi’s guarantee of offering a Rs 1-lakh annual joblessness stipend to diploma and degree holders. The party has also promised to hire 30 lakh people in government jobs; creation of a Rs 5,000-crore district-level startup fund and a law to check paper leaks.
The Mayawati-led BSP is trying to attract young voters with the help of the former CM’s nephew and party’s national coordinator Akash Anand, who is tech savvy and loves to connect with young followers on social media. He has been tasked to keep young Jatav voters, along with those from other under-privileged sections, connected with the outfit which won 10 seats in the last elections.
The Rashtriya Lok Dal, whose area of influence is largely limited to the Jat-Muslim belt in West Uttar Pradesh, is trying to attract the youth with its national chairman Jayant Chaudhary’s promise to the youth to ensure transparent and timely recruitment.
The state faces the big challenge of creating job opportunities for 18 lakh youths, who pass out every year from government and private universities at both UG and PG level.
Durgesh Shukla, a student preparing for competitive exams, said, “The complaints related to paper leaks and other wrongdoings can be addressed by creation of a Youth Commission in the state. Recruitments should be done in a time-bound manner so that there are no delays.”
His views are significant in the backdrop of 13 lakh applicants waiting for over two years to get appointed as TGT (3,313), PGT (850) and assistant professors (1,017).