The happiness of the king should be in the happiness of the people, he should work in the

interest of the people. The choice of the people should be his choice,the king should not
have any selfishness of his own. The above shloka urges that a good governance aims
towards betterment of the people, and this cannot take place without the government
being accountable to the people. So, how can we form a strong democratic government?
How is the entire process completed governing the rules and regulations without any fraud
and contempt? As Abraham Lincoln says ,”A ballot is stronger than the bullet”. Hence, the
solution is elections. Elections gives the opportunity to every adult citizen of the country to
choose his/her representative. This is what makes the country truly democratic as the
essence of democracy lies in equality. Public opinion and will can be expressed through
elections. They are essential for creating a vibrant ,progressive and aware society. Out
here, the right to vote is given to every adult citizen of the country irrespective of his/her
colour, race, religion and sex. Free and fair elections engage citizens a stakeholders in the
social and economic progress of the country. Elections encourages political leaders to work
towards the aspirations of the citizens. Barack Obama had said that the youth are the
future of the nation and it is their responsibility to actively participate in politics. If young
are so crucial, then why the trend in recent years drifts them away from participating in
the political process? When young people are disengaged or disfranchised from political
process a significant portion of the population has little or no influence in decisions that
affects the group members’ lives. Having obstacles to participating in formal,
institutionalized political process can make young people rapidly feel disempowered. Many
tend to believe that their voices are not going to be heard or that they will not be taken
seriously even if they are heard. The problems become circular as politicians may lose
interest in responding to the aspirations of young people if they cannot even win their
votes. This, in turn leads to young people being increasingly excluded from taking part in
decision making or in debates about key socio-economic and political issues, despite their
sensitivity to the demands for social equity and justice, environmental protection and
cultural diversity. For the youth of this country the prime issues still remain to be
unemployment, career, education. For young females, it’s about their safety, harassment
and abuse. Corruption scandals, inadequate representation, and gerontocracy is seen as a
driving factor to disconnect the young voters with democratic institutions, with the
average age of elected representatives in the 18th Lok Sabha being 56 years. One more
problem which is quite evident in today’s date would be that are youths are more
influenced and less informed. They wholly depend upon content creators, youtubers,
politicians or entrepreneurs who reach them passively through internet and whatever
algorithms they are fed is what they perceive to be their view instead of trying to seek
information on their own and rely upon their active decision making. We have 900 million
voters in India out of which around 400 million voters are young and 65% of India’s
population is below the age of 65 years, but sadly this population is not coming out to
vote. In 2009, the Election Commission of India established the Systematic Education and
Electoral Participation [SVEEP] programme, aimed engaging and educating voters due to
gaps and stagnation in voter registration and voter turnout. The voter turnout increased
from 58.2% in 2009 to 66.4% in 2014, due to SVEEP and political factors. However, the
2019 elections saw a stagnation in voter turnout of around 67.4%, despite a 9.3% growth
in electoral size. The ECI identifies that the youth, especially those from urban areas, are
less interested in the elections. This is a possible factor despite the marginal year-on-year
increasing voter turnouts, thus becoming a rising concern that requires a collaborative
effort. Multiple studies suggest the rising lack of trust in political institutions in the 21st
century. The ECI has also recorded migration as rising concern regarding lower voter
turnouts. Around 35% of the Indian population are migrants, mostly internal. A significant
share of this, the youth, are unable to vote as they reside in cities where haven’t re-
registered to vote.
For example, in the recently concluded Karnataka elections of 2023, 18-19 years olds had
the lowest elector population ratio, where only 36.7% registered themselves to vote. In
fact, as age increased, the elector population ratio increased too, signifying a lesser
coverage of the electorate within the youth population. In the 2019 elections, out of the
total 90 crore voters, over 4.5 crore voters were eligible voters in the age group of 18-19
years, of whom less than a third actually voted. Figures like these therefore call for action
for continuous new voter registrations among the youth, which includes creating
awareness around the registration process at the very age of 17 itself, though self-
registration mode of enrolment could be improvised. To make a difference in the longer
term, it is essential that young people are engaged in formal political processes and have a
say in formulating todays’ and tomorrows’politics. Inclusive political participation is not
only a fundamental, political and democratic right but is also crucial to building stable and
peaceful societies and developing policies that respond to the needs of younger
generation. Youth voters and officials should be extensively educated to provide a voting
experience similar to existing process and familiarize them with voting rights. Boosting
voter registration calls by collaborating with colleges and youth organisations such as
NYKS, RGNIYD, NSS and other NGOs to simplify the voting processes. Introduction of
Remote Electronic Voting Machine (RVM) has the potential to address the long-standing
issue of migration. Prevalent platforms like Whatsapp and Instagram can instead be
utilized to achieve deeper penetration within the youth. Making suitable numbers of well-
located voting stations with extended hours and educating the youths through
competitions like quizzes, elocution and essays, debates, poster-making etc. Empowering
the young leaders to attract the youth. India is the most populous country in the world
with 50% of it’s population below the age of 25, however we are characterized with ‘young
country with old leaders’. Youths must take initiative to participate in the nation’s
development trajectory as their active contributions can bring new spirit and life to the
India’s democracy. This way the issues related to the education, employment, empowering
youth, technological developments, health and social sector and many others can be
addressed in the best way possible. Hence, government and policymakers must chart ways
to engage the youth in electoral process. It is important to remember that the only
sustainable way to both increase voter turnout and eliminate socio-economic biases in the
voting population is to increase the engagement of the broader public with the political
world. India must take advantage of it’s unique demographic dividend by ensuring that
India’s standing as a functional, vibrant representative and syncretic democracy for
ensuring equal opportunities for the youth holds importance not only in domestic affairs
but also in international platforms