E-Paper
1st-time voters cast franchise in droves as polling kicks off in Karnataka
Data from the Election Commission showed that 1.29 million first-time voters were eligible to exercise their franchise in the state.
Hundreds of thousands of voters exercised their franchise for the first time in Karnataka on Friday as the state kicked off its electoral journey.
Data from the Election Commission showed that 1.29 million first-time voters were eligible to exercise their franchise in the state.
Ahead of casting her first vote in Vishwa Venkateshwara school in Kodipalya in Kengeri under Bengaluru North Lok Sabha constituency, Gagana Sri, a 18-year-old first time voter, said: “This is my first vote, I am excited. During the assembly election last year, my sister exercised the franchise in the same booth. Though I accompanied her to the booth, I couldn’t vote because my name was not in the list. I was eagerly awaiting to cast my vote. I am very happy now.” “It is the duty of everyone to elect the right and able leadership of the country,” she affirmed, highlighting the significance of their collective participation.
Echoing similar sentiments, Priyanka Suresh, a third-year MBBS student at Rajiv Gandhi university of health sciences and another (20), emphasised the importance of active citizenship. “Under the democratic process, it is the right of every citizen to exercise the franchise provided by the Constitution,” she said, dismissing the notion of none of the above (NOTA) and advocating proactive engagement in choosing leaders. “The NOTA is useless; everyone should elect their leader,” she added.
Another first time voter Prajwal Ranganath (19) expressed his happiness at being part of the electoral process. “I enrolled my name just three months ago, as I completed 18 years on June 15 last year. I am happy since I am part of electing the new leader of the nation. In future, I will vote in every election without fail,” he said. Prajwal is studying second-year engineering in electronics at a private college in RR Nagar.
