Indian Politics & Policy Volume 3, Number 1, Spring 2020 | Page 99

Table 3: Voters and their Votes
The Youth Vote in Lok Sabha Elections 2019
Congress Congress Allies BJP BJP Allies BSP+ Left Others
Young voters 19 5 41 7 7 2 20
Others 20 7 37 7 6 2 21
Total Vote Share 19.5 7 37.4 7.1 6.4 2.1 20.6
Source: CSDS data unit
Note: All figures are in percent-
Table 4: Preferences for the Parties by Age Group
Congress Congress Allies BJP BJP Allies Other parties
18–22 years 20 (+3) 5 (+3) 41 (+4) 7 (0) 28 (-7)
23–27 years 18 (-2) 6 (+3) 40 (+8) 7 (0) 29 (-8)
28–35 years 19 (0) 7 (+4) 39 (+6) 7 (0) 28 (-8)
36–45 years 20 (2) 7 (+4) 37 (+7) 7 (0) 29 (-11)
46–55 years 20 (0) 8 (+5) 36 (+6) 7 (-1) 29 (-10)
56 years and above 19 (-1) 8 (+3) 35 (+7) 7 (0) 29 (-9)
Source: CSDS data unit
Note: Figures in parentheses are vote shift from 2014.
Figures have been rounded off and are in percent.
Table 5: Preferences for the BJP and Congress across Elections
Parties
1999 2004 2009 2014 2019
Youth Others Youth Others Youth Others Youth Others Youth Others
Congress 27 29 27 26 28 29 19 20 19 20
BJP 26 23 23 22 20 18 34 30 41 37
Source: CSDS data unit
Note: All figures are in percentages
was historic. From 31.1 percent, the
party successfully managed to increase
its vote share to 37.4 percent. In 2014,
there was an immense focus on young
voters and the parties did everything
possible in order to woo this section.
The results of 2014 elections show that
young voters voted decisively in favor
of one political party, the BJP. The vote
share of the BJP among young voters
(18–25 years) was 34 percent, 3 percentage
points higher than its average
vote share of 31.1 percent. 10 Comparatively,
these elections witnessed BJP
increasing its vote share further among
this group. BJP secured a vote share of
41 percent among young voters, a rise of
a whopping 7 percentage points (Table
3). The data collected by Lokniti-CSDS
further shows that the BJP emerged as
the most preferred party among the
first-time voters (18–22 years of age).
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