4 days Ago By Ardhra Nair
Pune: The city is a focal point for candidates seeking to mobilise young voters every election as its large number of higher educational institutions and coaching classes for competitive examinations attract a significant number of students, particularly from rural areas. This season, from organising travel arrangements to arranging voter meets in Pune to leveraging social media platforms to stay connected, contestants and their teams are pulling out all the stops to get young voters to go back home and cast their votes in their home constituencies. Rahul Sasane, a PhD student in Savitribai Phule Pune University and a voter from Shevgaon assembly constituency, said, "I was contacted by a teacher from my village who sought my details and encouraged me to come home and vote.
The party workers offered a vehicle or reimburse my travel expenses. This is common, especially for voters from Marathwada and Ahilyanagar. Political parties organise voter meetings in cities, gather data, and coordinate travel for their supporters.
" Yuvraj, a campaign worker for a candidate in Shirdi constituency, described the voter outreach efforts. "We have detailed data of our voters in different cities. Each coordinator oversees a specific area.
A month ago, we held a voter meeting at a popular hotel in Pune and collected the numbers. I manage a list of 1,300 registered voters in Shirdi currently residing in Pune. We've been calling them regularly and reminding them to vote.
Many voters are MPSC aspirants who come to Pune for coaching," he said. Similar efforts are underway in other constituencies. Kamalakar Shete, originally from Ahilyanagar but works in Thane, highlighted the use of Google Forms by party workers from Karjat-Jamkhed constituency to facilitate voter transportation.
The two-page online form seeks details for arrangement of vehicles, the number of travellers, the starting point and destination, as well as the route to be taken. "The form allows voters to request travel assistance. While there's no coercion, such arrangements ensure that those who might otherwise skip voting due to travel cost can exercise their rights.
This practice is widespread in constituencies with significant student migration to cities like Pune," Shete said. Kuldeep Ambekar, a Pune-based students' rights activist currently campaigning for a candidate in Osmanabad, recounted similar initiatives. "A rival candidate organised transportation for voters a month ago, arranging vehicles to bring people, especially students, from Mumbai and Pune.
We are also doing it for our candidate. These voters will travel the night before election day, cast their votes, and return if they choose to. Many university students are also campaigning for candidates for a remuneration," he added.
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