About two crore new voters in the age group 18-22 will now get an opportunity to make informed choices and make a difference in the 2014 general election, the former Chief Election Commissioner, Navin Chawla, on Tuesday.
Speaking at an interaction with students of Rajiv Gandhi University in Arunachal Pradesh at Rono Hills, about 25 km from Itanagar, he said: “Each vote does count. Elections have been known to be won or lost by a single vote. So it is important for young, informed voters like you to exercise your franchise.”
The former CEC said social media had become an important arena for receiving and disseminating news. More contestants were hoping to mould the opinions of the new voters through social networking sites. “This virtual space is your domain. You have considerable power to influence the opinion of your friends and the larger community of young voters like you.”
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He said students all over the country had moved away from an apathetic attitude to a proactive attitude to general elections.
According to one estimate, he said, 1.80 lakh voters in the age group 18-19 had been added in every parliamentary constituency in this election. “Since the Election Commission takes so much trouble to garner each vote, the effort that you make to go out to vote is what helps to strengthen democracy.”
With the Supreme Court passing an order in 2002, all candidates were obliged to provide particulars of their educational qualifications, wealth and criminal cases lodged against them, if any, Mr. Chawla pointed out.
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