Mumbai: Young voters are following online political campaigns and social media to know more of their candidates before they go out to vote. Students claim they are using digital information to understand the work and ideologies of candidates irrespective of the political parties they represent. Students claim, campaigns on Twitter give them a broad idea of the perspective and plan of action of their candidates.
Krishma Shah, a student, said, “There are a lot of political discussions and debates taking place on a daily basis on Twitter. This helps us to get some idea of the political dialogue and environment. It is good to see candidates taking the digital road to propagate and target the young audience.” Young voters are enthusiastic about these elections as they want to see changes in the society. Hemant Rane, a student leader, said, “We have been actively involved in our campus politics.
We also understand elections are important and we are responsible for our votes. If campus politics can affect our academic lives then national level elections can definitely affect our overall lives, for example to bring in new rules and policies in education.” Razik Sheikh, a student, said, “We have personally followed the work done by several candidates in our areas. But social media helps us to get a clear idea of the attitudes of candidates towards the youth. Digitalisation is the way forward and we are getting to know our candidates using online platforms instead of casting a vote blindly.”