Modi eyeing 133 mn first-time voters for 2019 polls

This year, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered his shortest Independence Day speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort, it might have been directed to a generation whose attention span is shorter and lifespan longer than its predecessor. His eye might have been set on those born from 1997 to 2001: They will be exercising their voting rights for the first time in the 2019 general elections.

“January 1, 2018, will not be an ordinary day – those born in this century will start turning 18. For these people, this is a decisive year of their lives. They are going to be the creators of the destiny of our nation in the 21st century. I heartily welcome all these youth, honour them and offer my respects to them. You have an opportunity to shape the destiny of our country,” Modi said.

In many ways, Modi was addressing an important electoral constituency that also has the power to shape his party’s destiny: In the 2019 polls, 133 million young adults will get to cast their vote – 70 million young men and 63 million young women. Of them, 73% live in India’s villages. The number of young women in rural India who will be eligible to exercise their franchise in 2019 alone equals the population of Spain. The number of young men who will cast their vote for the first time in 2019 is higher than the population of Britain.

India’s demographic dividend might have peaked, but for India’s political parties, an electoral dividend is there for the taking if they can play it right. And that might not be hard for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has barely taken a wrong step since storming to power in 2014. An estimated 150 million new voters had become eligible to vote in 2014 – the highest ever reported in the history of free India