The young voters will play a crucial role in deciding the fortunes of political parties in Haryana, which goes to assembly polls on October 21. Haryana, which is witnessing a multi-cornered electoral contest in assembly polls, has a total of 1.83 crore voters including around 44.49 lakh young voters.
The major political parties in the fray are ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress, Indian National Lok Dal-Shiromani Akali Dal alliance, Jannayak Janta Party, Aam Aadmi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Loktantra Suraksha Party (LSP) and Swaraj India.
A total of 1.83 crore (1,83,90,525) voters including 98.78 lakh males (98,78,042) and 85.12 lakh females (85,12,231) constitute the electoral roll across the state, which has a population of 2.53 crore (according to Census 2011). The total electors include 1.07 lakh service voters and 252 transgender voters.
Nearly 44.49 lakh young voters in the age group of 18-29 years forms 24.2 percent of the total electors in the state. The highest number of voters i.e. 44.92 lakh are in 30-39 years age group, accounting for 24.5 percent of the total electorate, almost similar to the number of young voters in the state.
According to the Election Commission data as on October 4, there are 3.82 lakh voters in the age group 18-19. The voters in the age bracket between 20-29 years are 40.67 lakh. There are 35.67 lakh electors in the 40-49 years age group, 27.90 lakh in 50-59 age group, 17.39 lakh in 60-69 age group, 8.22 lakh in 70-79 age group and 80 plus voters are around 4.18 lakh.
While the political parties are reaching out to the young voters through social media platforms, holding interactive session on Twitter, Facebook and smartphone application WhatsApp, the Election Commission is also taking measures to ensure that young electors cast their vote on the polling day.
The chief electoral office, Haryana has directed the educational institutions to ensure participation of students in the electoral process and has also announced that the Colleges which would achieve hundred percent voting percentage of eligible students will be honoured on the occasion of National Voters’ Day on January 25, 2020.
According to the political observers, young voters being in sizeable number in Haryana, the political parties have chalked out special strategies to woo them. With employment being a key election issue, the vote of youngsters will be one of the deciding factors in the assembly polls, they say.