As the date of Assembly Elections draws close, first time voters from Hyderabad shared their thoughts/opinions on the campaign and the contesting parties.
As per the latest electoral roll data, out of the 3,26,02,799 voters in Telangana, around 9,99,667 are in the 18-19 age group or about 3%. The 19-35 year age bracket has 64,36,335 voters or about 19%. This 21% voters, some of them who will be voting for the first time, are a key segment being wooed by political parties.
Srivatsa, a 20-year-old student from Secunderabad, said that though he is happy with the ruling party, the amount of surveillance done by the Bharat Rashtra Samiti government is a cause of concern.
“I have seen the campaigns but honestly none of that can influence my opinion. I have pretty much made up our minds about whom I am going to. My only concern with the ruling party in the State is the high surveillance and overspending for ‘beautification’. I personally feel that we have overspent on the Secretariat building,” he said.
Aman Singh, a 25-year-old content writer from Nacharam, is unhappy that being a public service exam aspirant, no examinations have been conducted since the formation of the State. “The Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) did not conduct Group-1 and Group-II exams. There was some hope in 2022 with the release of notification, but the government and the administration messed it up by not holding the exams in a fool proof way. Moreover, the alleged suicide of an aspirant from Ashok Nagar was handled in poor taste by the ruling party. While I had always supported the ruling party, with these two things in mind, I am sceptical about the choice,” he said.
“The tables have turned. As loud as the campaign by BJP is on social media and offline, polls and statistics show how the current fight is majorly between Congress and the BRS. I think Congress should be given a chance to prove themselves,” said Anjali Rao, a 21-year-old private employee from Begumpet.
Digital era
“In this digital era, we hardly need visual campaign or a rally. We know what or whom we want. I hope the level of effort and money put behind such rallies and gathering eventually stops,” she added
Rahul Trivedi, also aged 21, is rooting for BJP. “People are not seeing how much good they have done as the focus mainly goes on standalone communal incidents and maligning by some party workers in the city. Also, for all the bold and strategic ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ done by the Congress leader, they took a diversion without entering Gujarat and headed straight to the capital. That’s how powerful the BJP is,” he said.
M. T. John, a 22-year-old marketing executive, feels that the interview by Minister K.T. Rama Rao with a YouTuber was a clever tactic. “The channel he gave the interview to is followed by a large number of youngsters and it was just a brilliantly timed execution by the BRS party. The subtle hint at communal harmony can be seen when he randomly called up the AIMIM president in the middle of the interview,” he said.
