First-timers line up to get nails painted

There were 4.2 lakh first-time voters this year, and many of them turned up to vote. All with their own special reasons, reports Tanya Ashreena.

There were 4.2 lakh first-time voters this year, and many of them turned up to vote. All with their own special reasons.

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“I voted for MLA Kiran Walia today because I strongly feel that educated people should be in power. I think they are in a better position to solve the country’s problems,” said Mudit Sharma, a 22-year-old resident of Hauz Khas.

Ashish Tyagi, a 21-year-old student of JNU, said he voted for Greater Kailash’s Congress (I) candidate, Jitendra Kochhar, “Because I support secularism and feel Sheila Dixit any day makes a much better chief ministerial candidate than VK Malhotra. I feel he will not be able to govern well.”

Vishal Chitkara, 22, voted for Patel Nagar’s Rajesh Lilothia because he felt that he was an accessible candidate. “Other than that, I felt dismayed by Bharatiya Janata Party’s campaign. It was too critical. At least the Congress promised development,” he said.

However, there were many who voted for no ideological reasons. “I flipped a coin, and it was BJP. So I thought, why not? The Congress has anyway been in power too long,” joked 22-year-old HDFC employee Kartik Dua, while 20-year-old Neha Bhargava said, “I voted because I have not received my voter’s ID. I need it as an identity proof. Otherwise I have no interest.”