Walk for a Vote: Youth of Bengaluru come forth to educate voters

Nimeshika Jayachandran & Tanvi Shenoy, NSoJ Bureau

NSoJ Election Special

Today’s youth often gets a bad rap for not being invested in the nation enough and for shirking their voting responsibilities, however, a group of 100 students from Surana College in Jayanagar, Bengaluru have proved otherwise as they took part in a venture to bring about awareness about the upcoming election. Mr. Harish, an advocate from the Karnataka High Court, began the event which was held in slums around Jayanagar by reminding every one of the importance of Ambedkar Jayanti and the significance of the constitution. He further went on to address the students about the importance of voting and emphasized the point that votes are not for sale. Students were also guided by Mrs. Sudha, Principal of Vijaya College, Mr. Girish, an NSS Officer from Surana College, Mr. Anand, BPAC member and Civic Activist, as well as Ms. Mamta, Political Science Professor and NSS Officer at Vijaya College.

The students went around parts of J P Nagar to address the general public about the importance of voting. They paid heed to the words of Mr. Harish and counseled many slum dwellers about the importance of not selling their votes and to vote responsibly. Ms. Mamta was quite thrilled with the response of the students and stated that, “if you look at the degree students, almost all of them are eligible for voting, but not all of them turn up to actually cast a vote on election day, the kind of youth energy we see today, we need more of that in politics. If we educate people and get more young people involved in politics, we will definitely start seeing a lot more change.”