What the first time voter means to the Karnataka assembly election

As Karnataka gears up to vote on May 12, one unique factor would be the first time voters. This is for the first time that the state is witnessing such a high number of voters. For political parties the first time voters are crucial.

The first time voters are considered to be in the undecided bracket and their votes could swing the prospects of any political party. The campaign by many candidates has been centric to the first time voters as well.

The number of first time voters in the age group of 18 and 19 has gone up since 2013. The number of first-time voters is 15,42,000 as against 7,18,000 in 2013. The Election Commission had launched an extensive drive to register new voters into the electoral rolls.

Apart from this the ECI has also introduced a new ballot paper which will also feature the photograph of the candidate on it.

This time the ballot paper will not just feature the name of the candidate and party but a photograph as well. This has been done to avoid confusion among the voters in case candidates have similar or same names.

The ECI has also set up all woman polling booths. One polling station in each assembly constituency will have an all women's booth. In all there would be 224 such booths across the state.