India General Elections 2024: Ab ki baar, pehli baar

Pranav Alwe, Tisha Gupta, Manark Dasadia, Ashna Ranade, Ankit Yadav and Harshik Mulchandani

Pranav Alwe from Parel Village voted at a Sewri centre. Alwe took approximately 1.5 hours to get to the voting cubicle, "I went to vote at 9.30 am and finished by 11.15 am," he stated. "I was quite certain about who I wanted to vote for. But, when I saw the EVM machine, there was some confusion, just a bit, but I went with my original choice." Alwe said, "perhaps the centre could have done with more fans, it was absolutely searing inside." That aside, the 22- year-old felt the gravity of the situation, "my voice will be counted now."

While it was sweltering in Sewri, for interior designing student Manaksh Dasadia from Prabhadevi, the voting process was smooth. Manaksh said, "I had decided who I would vote for, I was reading newspapers diligently a few days before, just trying to follow the political twists 'n' turns. There was no queue and it was smooth going at the centre," said the teenager who believes that it is not just voting, "we should also have younger people in politics."

Manaksh Dasadia, a voter

Manaksh's cousin brother Manark Dasadia too made his poll debut at Prabhadevi. The 19-year-old student said, "I was so curious about how the process worked. It was smooth and speedy when talking about the physical process of voting. I used to think, everybody talks about: every vote counts. I sometimes wonder though, does every vote count in a country of billions? I am unsure about that."

Working professional Harshik Mulchandani, 23, who cast his vote in Prabhadevi, said, "There was no rush at the centre and I could take some time. What really shocked me when I looked at the machine was the number of candidates! Once I exited the centre, I did look at my inked finger and thought this was a good experience."
A cocktail of excitement and some nerves it was, for Ankit Yadav from Andheri East. The 18-year-old Science student said, "young voters are an important demographic. Go to the booth with some knowledge of the political scenario and be clear. Even though I had pre-decided, I had a flood of thoughts when I saw the voting machine. That cleared in a second though, but one can get slightly overwhelmed," he explained.

Tisha Gupta, an 18-year-old Computer Science student who voted in Ghatkopar said, "I was slightly nervous at first entering the booth, but I realised that one vote may sound like a drop in an ocean in our country, but like they say, every drop counts. I think even if younger people enter politics, they can bring in different dimensions and look at life through a new age lens like Artificial Intelligence (AI) perhaps and the role this will play in our lives," she explained.

No phones!

Most youngsters laughed as they collectively said, "phones were disallowed inside the centres, otherwise, we live in an Instagram age and most of our generation would be taking selfies to post on social media."