Students, who form a large chunk of first-time voters in the city, were enthusiastic and eager to get a mark of indelible ink on their left hand index finger.
Little anxiety and nervousness shadowed them until they came out of polling booth. For them, it was extremely inexplicable and proud to be part of election.
“You have no idea how excited I am to get my finger inked for the first time,” said Srinivas Mulapati, a resident of Panja Centre. Srinivas, an Intermediate student, with an eye on ink on his finger, said, “I feel equally empowered. Now, I can choose a candidate or party which I like.”
First-timers like Mounika, an MBA student who cast her vote at AKTP School, got confused for a while on functioning of the EVM. “The symbols confused me. But it was a split of a second,” she said.
P. Ramdevi, a helper at shop, was tensed to see the serpentine queue at a polling booth near One Town and answer official jargon. “I got scared. But somehow managed it and successfully exercised my franchise,” she said.
The sustained efforts of officials to register new voters have paid dividends and there were many first-time voters in civic polls. “There is a talk on right to vote sometime ago. Then, I have realised that casting my vote is not only my right but duty as well,” says P. Bhargavi, a third-year B.Com student in One Town area. She was one of the campaigners in her college to enrol students as voters.
“My friends and I have understood that it was not possible to bring change in society unless we come out and exercise our franchise,” adds her pal.
The mood near polling stations — unrest over missing names — seems to have played on their minds. And, some of their apprehensions that came to true as names did not figure in the list. Engineering student Mr Sandeep, clad in Bermudas, arrived at polling booth in Patamata (division 9), with a zest to hold the button of EVM but was disappointed as his name did not figure in the list. “What’s use of this EPIC card? The voter list has watered down my enthusiasm,” he said.
