Indian Politics & Policy Volume 3, Number 1, Spring 2020 | Page 104

Indian Politics & Policy
ty used it to attract voters. During one
of his rallies, Narendra Modi appealed
to first-time voters to cast their vote and
dedicate it to the army who carried out
the air strike in Pakistan and the brave
martyrs of the Pulwama terror attack. 12
The awareness level regarding the air
strike on terrorist training camps in Pakistan
was much higher among young
voters than the rest of the voters (with a
gap of 10 percentage points). Forty-two
percent of youth who had heard of the
strikes voted for BJP and 40 percent
of other voters did as well. Although
awareness about the air strike was
comparatively low among adult voters,
there was not much difference among
young and adult voters in voting for the
BJP. Thirdly, the incumbent NDA government
had announced a policy of 10
percent reservation for economically
weaker sections; there was also a little
more support among young voters for
this compared to voters from the other
age cohorts. However, when it came to
vote for the BJP, there was no difference
among young and other voters.
d. Campaign Strategies
Used by the Parties
Other than these political episodes, the
campaign strategies launched by the
parties affected the voting behavior of
young voters. There is no doubt that
the BJP ran an aggressive youth-specific
campaign to woo these voters. For
instance, the party initiated a digital
campaign, Youth with Modi program to
connect youth with the party through
various social media platforms. 13 These
platforms were used as the medium to
discuss various issues and the BJP-led
NDA government also advertised their
own popular policies. The party not
only used digital campaigning, it also
used traditional campaigning methods
where it interacted with voters in faceto-face
conversations in their respective
constituencies. The youth wing of
the BJP, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha,
launched a somewhat similar campaign
called Modi Yuva Shakti to get
in touch with college students through
direct conversation in order to popularize
BJP’s central schemes and campaign
for the party. 14 Additionally, the BJP’s
IT cell introduced the Millennium Vote
Campaign app to assist first-time voters
in registering for the electoral rolls. 15 It
targeted roughly 150 million first-time
voters with a special reach out campaign
before the elections with a pledge Pehla
Vote Modi Ko (first vote to Modi). The
party’s youth leaders also assisted these
first-time voters in obtaining their voter
ID cards. In addition, the party also
launched social media campaign #ModiOnceMore,
which it claimed garnered
“massive support” among people of all
age groups. 16 This explains the BJP’s
popularity among first-time voters.
It was not only the incumbent
party BJP, but Congress too focussed
on young voters in its campaign. Rahul
Gandhi, after becoming Congress president,
started a dialogue with youth via
Apni baat Rahul ke saath. 17 The youth
Congress also organized the Yuva kranti
yatra and visited close to twenty-five
Indian states. 18 During this march, the
party highlighted pertinent issues related
to young voters, like unemployment,
inflation, crime against minorities and
scheduled castes, and the failure of
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