Youth wings go all out to woo first-time voters

As the poll date draws closer,youth wings of political parties have launched plans for their own campaigns in colleges and through social networking over the Internet to attract young voters.

Written by Stuti Shukla

Mumbai | January 19, 2012 04:45 AM IST

3 min read

As the poll date draws closer,youth wings of political parties have launched plans for their own campaigns in colleges and through social networking over the Internet to attract young voters. While the Shiv Senas youth wing Yuva Sena is looking at wooing first-time voters,Congresss National Student Union of India (NSUI) is demanding seats for its members in addition to their college campaigning. The Maharashtra Navnirman Vidyarthi Sena (MNVS) has also been eyeing elections with over 80 office-bearers appearing for the MNS examination held for selecting candidates.

Amol Kirtikar,general secretary of Yuva Sena and son of senior Sena leader Gajanan Kirtikar,said unlike other youth wings,Yuva Sena does not have the quota system. We do not follow a quota system and will not ask for any tickets for the Yuva Sena members. If at all a member gets a ticket,it is because the party feels he can be a good corporator and not because he is in the Yuva Sena, said Kirtikar. While there has been talk about him getting a ticket for the upcoming BMC elections,he did not confirm it.

Abhijit Adsul,spokesperson for the Yuva Sena and MLA from Daryapur in Amravati,said they will start campaigning in colleges once candidate names are finalised and also target first-time voters. In the list of newly added voters,we will look at first-time voters and try to get in touch with them and campaign for the Sena by handing out pamphlets and our book Karun Daahavla, he said. Karun Daakhavla is a campaign book of Sena listing the various projects carried out by the Sena-led BMC in past five years.

Meanwhile,in addition to campaigning for Congress candidates,the NSUI is also asking for seven to eight seats for its members. The union has presence in 130 colleges in the city. Suraj Singh Thakur,state NSUI president,said the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee will look into the demands once ward sharing is finalised with the NCP. We will give preference to our district and office-bearers if we get tickets. Some college unit presidents,such as our unit president in Somaiyya College,is eyeing a ticket, he said. He added that they have started campaigning for the Congress through the NSUI pages on Facebook,Twitter and Orkut.

The MNVS is going to hold a programme for all its college unit heads in the Shanmukhananda Hall in Sion this week. President Aditya Shirodkar said overall campaigning strategy in colleges will be finalised there.

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Gajanan Kirtikar MNVS NSUI Yuva Sena