Youngsters go extra mile to cast vote on June 1
Raghav Guleria
Dharamsala, May 30
While the Election Commission’s initiative of “voting from home” for the elderly is likely to boost the turnout in the elections, many voters, especially youngsters, who are away from home and don’t have the option of ‘remote voting’, are also eager to be part of the festival of democracy.
Many voters, who are living away from home either for higher studies or earning a livelihood, will be travelling hundreds of miles to exercise their franchise.
These youngsters desire that the Election Commission should find a way out to enable them to vote from the place of their work. Young voters, who hail from Dharamsala, are reaching home to cast their vote for the Lok Sabha election and Assembly bypoll on June 1.
First-time voter Kashvi, a student at Thapar Engineering College, who has come from Patiala to cast her vote at Dharamsala, said, “I am excited to be part of the government formation process.”
Ishita, a resident of Depot Bazaar, plans to take a flight from Bengaluru on June 1 to cast her vote at Dharamsala. “Travelling all the way from Bengaluru to Himachal for one day will be heavy on the pocket. Not to mention, the trouble of asking for a leave of absence or the work-from-home option from the office. An option to vote digitally will definitely be helpful, but only if it’s a secure and well-organised system of voting.”
Namrata Sharma, a resident of Ramnagar, who works in a news channel will be travelling from Hyderabad to cast her vote. Raman Kumar of Dari says he has booked a seat in Volvo for May 31 to reach Dharamsala on June 1 morning to join this “maha-utsav” of democracy.
The Tribune talked to District Election Officer Hemraj Bairwa to find out if there was a provision for those staying outside the state to cast their vote from places where they are residing. “As per the provisions, any person can get enrolled as a voter at the place where he or she resides. Thereafter, it can be transferred to the next polling area where the person gets shifted,” he said. There is no provision of remote voting as of now and a person residing outside the state can only cast the vote at the polling booth, he added.
