Delhi`s first timers vote for change

New Delhi: The majority of the over 300,000 first time voters in the national capital Thursday opted for change and desperately want the new government to bring development and clean governance.

Of the over 12 million voters in Delhi, 337,000 exercised their franchise for the first time Thursday as they voted to elect seven Lok Sabha members - the Congress won all the seats in 2009 - from 150 candidates including 57 independents. “We’ve had enough of scams and corruption which has really hurt our economy in the last few years. We now need a government that can stabilize the economy and make great strides in development,” Samarth Tandon, a 23-year-old management student from north Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar, said. “It’s time for change and to ensure that India gets back in the race of the fastest developing nations,” added Tandon. Agreed, 30-year-old Smriti Bose, who surprisingly voted for the first time. “I was never interested in politics and so never bothered to vote. But now I have realised how ignorant I was because if you don’t go out and vote you don’t have the right to complain,” said the human resource executive working in a private company. Delhi witnessed a high-voltage triangular fight between the BJP, AAP and Congress. However, the real battle, it seems is between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the two-year-old Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). While the AAP is banking on its clean image and is keen to replicate its stunning debut in last December`s assembly elections — winning 28 of the 70 seats - the BJP is relying on its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s image and its development plank to come to power. “Modi has made so many promises and I want to give him a chance so I have voted for him. As far as AAP is concerned, it is still a novice in the political arena and needs more experience. The fact that they blew the one chance they got in Delhi has worked against them as well this time,” said 23-year-old, Sarthak Jaggia, a software professional from Noida. Arshiya Sood, 19, begged to differ and opined that Modi favoured corporates and the development he would bring in would be at the cost of the exchequer. “He may be talking about development but everybody knows he is backed by the corporates and is bound to favour them when he gets to power,” she said. “If he comes he will work for the development of a selected group of people for sure,” she added. Meanwhile, the eagerness for change could be gauged by the fact that Delhi recorded over 64 percent voting and the figure was expected to rise as this would continue beyond the official closing time in some areas. The 2009 polling percentage was around 52 percent. Serpentine queues were witnessed at several of the 11, 763 polling booths since early morning when voting began at 7 a.m. The day-long polling ended at 6 p.m.