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Sunday, February 22, 2026
TopicFirst time voters

Topic: first time voters

SubscriberWrites: The Nation is wasting time on irrelevant matters

The political discourse in India has degenerated to just plain gibberish.

Women make up just a third of new voters in Haryana. What’s behind this stark gender disparity

Of 3.43 lakh Haryana voters in this age group, 2.30 lakh are male, 1.13 lakh female & 18 are transgenders. This is in stark contrast to overall gender balance among voters in state.

Gabbar, memes & Rajkummar Rao — ECI targets ‘urban & youth’ population with its ‘Desh ka Form’ campaign

Election Commission of India's multimedia 'Desh Ka Form' campaign aims to draw attention of existing & tentative voters to check or add their names in electoral rolls ahead of 2024 polls.

Wearing goggles for secrecy, conjoined twins Sohna-Mohna cast separate votes in Punjab polls

The twins, who had applied to have their names included as separate persons in the electoral rolls soon after turning 18 last year, were hailed as ‘icons of voters with disabilities’.

Common digital voter list can aid ground officers stuck with drawn maps, duplicate entries

Considerations to use voter information to make Covid-19 vaccine priority lists show the importance of voter list reforms on India’s 10th National Voters’ Day.

35% dip in enrolment of first-time voters — the group that gave BJP clear edge in 2014

EC data shows that 1.5 crore first-time voters (18-19 age group) have enrolled so far in 2019 as against the 2.3 crore in 2014. 

‘We don’t even think of riots’: For many first-time voters in Gujarat, 2002 is irrelevant

Young voters who were perhaps only toddlers when the riots took place say jobs and development are what matter them most.

In Rajkot, first-time voters split between BJP and Congress

While a section of youngsters throws weight behind BJP for its ‘good work’ in education and infrastructure, Patidars prefer Congress.

Talk Point: Modi’s image is intact, even if he has left Gujarat

While interacting with the students of IIT Gandhinagar recently, I observed that most of them still believed in Modi, and Gujarat was a safe place for women, unlike most of the states.

Talk Point: First-time voters have grown up enjoying fruits of Modi’s vikas-centric governance

The youth of Gujarat who are reaching the voting age of 18 for the first time in this election were 15-16 years old when the state voted overwhelmingly to make Modi the Prime Minister. Naturally, at that time, the Modi craze was very high.

On Camera

Nick Jonas wearing a mangalsutra is validation for many Indians. He’s our favourite jiju

Nick Jonas is not trying to modernise the mangalsutra, but his gesture shows that choices can be equal. If commitment must be flaunted, it need not be gendered.

In the West, there’s anxiety. In India, optimism—Rishi Sunak says India poised to be leader in AI

On Wednesday, the former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was speaking in New Delhi at a Carnegie & Observer Research Foundation event on AI.

Suspected brake failure leads to Tejas accident after landing, airframe likely to be written off

The IAF, so far, remains mum on this accident which has led to grounding of the fleet for safety checks.

No country is ever fully sovereign. Cold War era taught India its real meaning

India’s fraught neighbourhood places multiple constraints on its strategic choices. It leaves no time to take a deep breath, lean back and reset.