Punjab assembly elections: Ludhiana’s first-time voters exercise franchise with a sense of responsibility

Ludhiana’s first-time voters exercised their franchise for the Punjab assembly elections with a feeling of responsibility, factoring in parties’ stances on education, drug menace and employment

Young first-time voters on Sunday exercised their franchise with a feeling of responsibility and a pinch of excitement. Of the total 26,93,131 voters for this election, 36,096 were participating in the exercise for the first time.

First-time voters after casting their vote at a polling station in Ludhiana during the Punjab Assembly Election. (Gurpreet Singh/HT Photo)

The debutants were seen stepping out in huge numbers, both in urban and rural constituencies.

While the polling of the state assembly elections commenced at 8 am, several first-time voters had already queued at the polling stations in advance. While few appreciated the Congress government for its five years tenure in the state, a few casted their debut votes hoping for change.

Factors including drug menace, poor roads and poor sewage system, women safety, education standards, and health facilities to the issues including the inflation, foreign investment weighed in on the youngsters’ minds.

Ananta Anand, 18, a physiotherapy student lauded the outgoing government, saying, “It was a great responsibility and I am happy that I delivered it to the best of my judgement. I am satisfied with the functioning of Congress in the past five years as they have delivered and worked for the development, but on the other hand, I believe that more could have been done to control the drugs issue.”

Also highlighting the need to improve educational standards, she added that the same would help in opening up better employment for the youngsters within the state.

Another first-time voter, medical student Sudha Moudgil, 19, said she saw exercising one’s voting right as a fundamental way of contributing to development.

“Citizens should be aware of their rights and duties. I am looking forward to seeing women freely hanging around at night with no fear of being harassed or molested. Moreover, drugs are so easily available despite tall claims being made about eradication. The outgoing government should have worked harder and focused on welfare instead of fighting for power”, she added.

BA student Kartik, 19, while lauding the previous government for bringing reforms in the education sector, hoped for timely implementation and execution of development scheme by the next establishment.

BBA student Manpreet Kaur, 21, a BBA student, meanwhile, expected the new government to attract foreign investment in the state. The move, according to her, will help the state to move past its financial crunch and generate employment for the youngsters, another major concern in the state.

Model polling stations had also set up special selfie points, targeted to draw in more first-time voters. The selfie, surprisingly, also drew an enthusiastic response from not just the youth but older voters as well as several could be seen taking photographs.

Certificates of appreciation were also handed out by election staff to youngsters casting their first-ever votes.