For the first time voters, the whole experience of visiting a polling station, choosing the candidate on the EVM and casting their vote was new and different.
S. Sriharan of Tatabad, Coimbatore, plans to keep his booth slip safe. “It is a reminder of my first voting exercise,” says the medical student.
Rashmi B., a second year college student, enquired with her mother and understood how to vote. After getting all the details the young voter exercised her franchise at the government school in Vadavalli, accompanied by her friend, S. Diksa.
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Two sisters – A. Kavinarasi (24) and A. Ilakkiya (22) – cast their votes together for the first time in Palladam Assembly constituency.
Ms. Kavinarasi said that she initially found it difficult to go through all the candidates in the list on the electronic voting machine. She and her younger sister said that the hardships caused due to the COVID-19 restrictions and soaring temperatures were not a major concern to exercise their franchise.
M. Sneha (20), another first-time voter in Palladam Assembly constituency, said that the COVID-19 restrictions in the polling stations were “difficult,” but asserted that there is “no other way” given the present situation.
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In the Nilgiris, the first time voters included several residents of Tibetan origin who had made the Nilgiris their home several years ago.
The community of Tibetan-exiles, most of whom own small businesses near the Government Botanical Garden in Udhagamandalam, have only recently started to vote in elections. Tibetans born in India between 1950 and 1987 are legally allowed to vote since 2014.
Tashi Yangzom, a resident of Tibetan origin, said that many members of the community felt it was their duty to vote in the elections. “We never faced any discrimination in the Nilgiris, and we feel that this is also our home,” she said.
Though not all members of the community speak Tamil or English, they were assisted by election officials to cast their vote for the party of their choice, they said.
Another first-time voter in the Nilgiris K. Shobika, a resident of Fern Hill, and a third-year college student studying in Coimbatore, said, “One of the factors which is driving youngsters like me to go out and vote is the influence of social media, which is driving home the message of the need to vote, and the need to also choose our elected officials wisely.”
(With inputs from Karthik Madhavan and Wilson Thomas in Coimbatore, R. Akileish in Tiruppur, and Rohan Premkumar in Udhagamandalam)