The Central Government initiated the program 'My first vote for the country' in order to encourage the youth to participate in the elections. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is taking special interest in this voter awareness campaign.
India's identity as a young country looking to break new ground is quite an encouraging sight. The number of voters eligible to vote for the first time in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections is 1.84 crore while the total voters are 96.8 crore. Data for February 2024 shows that 1,84,81,610 voters are in the age group of 18 to 19 years. This is the reason why the Central Government is running a campaign to motivate these youth to exercise their voting rights.
This initiative named 'My first vote for the country' is being run in educational institutions and other suitable places with the aim of making young voters aware of the election process. Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself is taking special interest in this campaign.
The main reason for this lies in the election data of 2014 and 2019. CSDA Director Sanjay Kumar had informed that 34.4% youth voters voted for BJP, which is 3 percent more than the average 31.1% votes received by the party. He said that BJP got twice the votes from the youth (aged between 18 to 22 years) than the Congress party.
At the same time, BJP estimates that 41% youth voted for it in the 2014 elections, of which 68% voters were eligible to vote for the first time. At the same time, if we talk about 2019 Lok Sabha elections, 41% of the voters in the age group of 18 to 22 years voted for BJP, which is 4 percent more than the average vote percentage received by the party. In this way, BJP's support among youth had increased by 4 percent in 2019 as compared to 2014. BJP had also launched the 'First Vote for Modi' campaign in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
PM Modi has urged all people of the society to spread awareness about the 'Mera Pehla Vote Desh Liye' campaign among the youth who are voting for the first time. He has appealed to the youth by retweeting the song 'Mera Pehla Vote Desh Ke Liye' shared on social media platform X. This song has been shared by Union Minister Anurag Thakur. Responding to the Union Minister's post, the Prime Minister said, 'Let us make our electoral process more participatory. I urge all people of the society to spread the message among the youth voting for the first time in their own way - my first vote for the country!'
On the other hand, the Education Ministry is planning to organize a program called 'My first vote for the country' in higher educational institutions across the country. The objective of this program is to ensure that the youth of our country participate enthusiastically in the elections. Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan appealed to the youth and first-time voters to exercise their franchise in large numbers. He has directed all higher educational institutions to organize voter awareness activities on their campuses.