Political parties aiming to 'catch 'em young', would sourly be disappointed! For, on the D-day, youngsters who most parties hoped would turn up in hoards, mostly kept away.
Rohit Ugale (27), a software engineer and resident of Tardeo-Malabar Hill constituency, said though he voted, his friends and acquaintances had stayed back. "I didn't see any zeal amongst youngsters. Those who voted in Lok Sabha polls, were nowhere to be seen," said Ugale.
An MNS worker from Borivali (west) claimed though they had knocked on doors and urged voters to come out and vote irrespective of party affiliation, the response was dull. "We don't know the reason," he added.
Youngsters in Bandra (east), Vakola, and Kalina areas too shunned polling booths. Most of those who turned up here were middle-aged or the elderly. A handful of youths who turned up were mostly escorting their parents or grand parents.
At part 231, where Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and family voted and where over 5,000 voters are registered, till 11pm only around 1,500 had exercised their franchise. And most of them were the elderly or the middle-aged. However, Patuck Junior College polling station in Vakola saw several first-time voters from nearby semi-slum areas coming out to vote.
In Gavanpada, Mulund (east) a BJP worker at a polling booth said: "We expected a lot of youngsters to vote as during Sardar Tara Singh's campaign, there was good response from youngsters. But on polling day, only a few turned up.
Some of the youngsters dna spoke to said they had exams coming up and hence couldn't spare time. "Even though polling centres are close by, we couldn't spend time waiting in queues as our exams are fast approaching," a Bandra-based first year history student from a popular city college said.
Senior citizens, who voted, condemned the lackadaisical attitude of the young: 89-year old Khushiram Devnani, who has severe arthritis pain and could barely walk, voted. The Bandra resident said: "I have been voting for years and believe everyone, especially the youth, should. It's sad if they felt they do not need to contribute to choosing their leader," he said.
The story was the same in several assembly segments in island city like Dharavi, Dadar-Mahim, Worli, Sion-Koliwada and Wadala. Barring parts of Sion-Koliwada and Wadala, young voter turnout was poor in other segments. Modi wave seemed absent except in parts of Wadala constituency, where local Gujarati voters came out in big numbers.
Political observers attributed the youths' lukewarm response to the break-up between Sena and BJP, and subsequent ambiguity over who would lead the state post-polls.
"During parliamentary election, there was clarity on who would lead the country. However, there was no such clarity in this poll," said Sandeep Pradhan, senior assistant editor of Marathi daily Lokmat.
Prof Surendra Jhondale, HOD, political science dept, Mumbai University, said state elections should not be compared with LS polls. Lok Sabha polls always have a larger dimension. The question among the youth then was who would be the PM, and Modi had been projected as a larger-than-life image. However, in this election, none of the parties could project a CM candidate. By the time they did, youngsters had lost interest.
Also, some of the youngsters were disappointed that none of the promises Modi had made during LS polls had yet been fulfilled.
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