Two out of three first-timers (18 to 19-year-olds) in the state have not enrolled themselves as voters for the upcoming assembly elections. As against a projected census population of 38.94 lakh in Maharashtra, only 14.92 lakh (38.32 per cent) have enrolled themselves in voter lists. The young voters enrollment has been worse in Mumbai. Only 31.3 per cent have registered till July 31, according to statistics collected by the Election Commission, indicating a lack of interest in the electoral process despite all round efforts by several agencies.
This is in sharp contrast with people of other age groups where enrollment has surpassed their projected population as the EC refrained itself from deleting the names of voters this time to avoid any repeat of the fiasco which invited huge criticism during Lok Sabha elections.
Overall, 8.26 core voters have been registered across Maharashtra as against the projected population of 8.29 crore till July 31. The voter enrollment process was on till September 17, however, the age-wise data for updated figures is yet to be compiled.
While EC officials claim that education institutions failed to encourage students to participate in the electoral process, the youngsters cited time constraints, the cumbersome process of voter registration, the absence of impressive leaders and "fake issues" raked up in the polls.
"Most of us were busy in admissions for undergrad courses initially. Then they got busy in preparing for the semester exams,"justified a first year engineering student. Hostellers at Mumbai University blame that the process of registration is cumbersome as it requires too many documents which we don't have.
Youngsters also say the present lot of leaders failed to inspire them. "None of the Maharashtra politicians are role models. They continue to play caste-religion politics which was obvious from their reservation plank for Muslims and Marathas which was over and above the 50 per cent reservation that already exists. Moreover, all parties are fielding the same, old, tired, criminal and corrupt candidates," said a student of Pune University.
A medical student from Nagpur said, "My parents had to take a loan to pay Rs 40 lakh for my seat in a private college. The politicians don't talk about this issue as they themselves are into this money-making business. My brother didn't get admission in a government engineering college despite good score as he graduated from the ICSE board whose marks were scaled down to give benefit to state board students. This is pathetic and discriminatory, we approached courts as well but no politician supported the cause."
Sudhakar Tamboli, Maharashtra Navnirman Vidyarthi Sena leader admits, "Political parties are still not touching upon youth issues. They run from pillar to post to get their work done."
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