An estimated 12 lakh youth voters out of the total 14.40 core electorate in Uttar Pradesh are expected to exercise their franchise for the first time in the coming Look Sabha elections.
“Names of 12,36,000 young voters have been added to the electoral roll in the state. The number of voters in the age group of 18-19 is 16.75 lakh. The total number of voters in the state is 14.40 crore,” UP’s Chief Electoral Officer L Venkateshwarlu said.
All parties have been trying to woo this segment of the voters in the politically crucial state which sends 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha.
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s youth wing, the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, had last month launched a drive across the country to reach out to first-time voters.
The exercise came following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to the BJP to connect with those born in this millennium as they would get voting rights from this year.
The BJP had won 71 out of 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, securing 42.63 percent of the votes. BJP’s ally the Apna Dal (Sonelal) had bagged two seats.
Samajwadi Party had won five seats with a vote share of 22.35 percent while the Bahujan Samaj Party had drawn a blank but had secured 19.77 percent votes in 2014. In the last general elections, the Congress had registered wins on two seats in the state, bagging just 7.53 percent of the votes.