Jaipur: Despite all efforts of the Election Commission and political parties the first-time voters aged between 18-19 have shown apathy towards voting to choose their new MP in Rajasthan. There is a sharp 16.70 per cent decline from 2019 in the voting of first-time voters in the state. As per the data given by the election commission, the registration of first-time voters increased this time from 2019, but the voter turnout has declined sharply.
A total of 9,91,505 out of the registered 16,64,845 new voters have voted in the Lok Sabha General Election this time in Rajasthan which is about 60 per cent voter turnout of this age group, while in 2019, out of a total of 13,82,834 registered new voters, 10,60,637 had voted which is, about 76.70 per cent.
In this election, only four Loksabha seats Banswara, Barmer, Kota and Alwar have recorded more voter turnout in the 18-19 age group than in 2019. Barmer Lok Sabha constituency has seen the highest increase of 8.16 per cent.
An interesting trend has come out this time that high voter turnout of new voters is in the seats where there are young leaders in the election fray. Like the highest 77. per per cent new voters turnout in tribal-dominated Banswara Lok Sabha constituency where Bhartiya Adivasi Party candidate Rajkumar Roat (31) is contesting with the support of Congress.
Roat is a tribal leader who has a good following in youth. There are three assembly constituencies under this Loksabha seat where more than 90 per cent of voting of new voters took place. It was 99.37 per cent in Bagidaura, 95.81 per cent in Banswara and 91.08 per cent in the Ghatol assembly constituency.
Similarly, the second highest is Barmer where 74.59 per cent of new voters turned up to vote. This is the seat where an independent MLA Ravindra Singh Bhati (26) has made the contest triangular. Bhati Wathe is the Student Union president of Jodhpur University. The other two candidates union minister Kailash Choudhary (50) of BJP and Ummedaram Beniwal (46) of Congress are middle-aged.
The lowest 47.44 per cent voting took place in the Karauli Dholpur Lok Sabha constituency where the overall voter turnout is also the lowest.
Political analyst Rajiv Tiwari believes that this decline in voter turnout of first-time voters is surprising and a matter of concern also for the election commission as well as political parties. 'it is surprising and clearly shows the apathy of new voters towards voting. The reasons for this should be analysed by the concerned agencies and political parties. This apathy may give some unexpected results also,' said Tiwari.
Lok Sabha constituency-wise voting percentage of voters in the age group of 18-19 years
Banswara: 77.93
Barmer: 74.59
Quota: 73.39
Jodhpur: 72.25
Chittaurgarh: 67.39
Jhalawar-Baran: 63.44
Jaipur: 62.43
Ganganagar: 62.01
Jalore: 61.63
Churu: 61.2
Ajmer: 58.35
shift: 57.74
Udaipur: 57.2
Sikar: 55.15
Alwar: 55.08
Tonk-Sawai Madhopur: 54.97
Nagaur: 54.8
Bikaner: 54.18
Rajsamand: 54.11
Jhunjhunu: 54
Dausa: 53.83
Bhilwara: 53.27
Jaipur Rural: 51.66
Bharatpur: 50.5
Karauli-Dholpur: 47.44
