Youth in Samba block vote for development

Youth in Samba block vote for development
Archit Watts
Tribune News Service

Tapyal (Samba), April 21
Going by the enthusiastic participation of the youth in the panchayat elections, it seems they have rejected divisive politics and taken up development as the key issue.

The panchayat elections, which are being held after a gap of 10 years, are attracting the maximum number of youth, as they are more concerned about the development of their villages than supporting the agenda of a few hardline separatist leaders.

“On an average, 80 per cent of the voters have exercised their right to vote in the Samba block,” KK Sidha, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Samba, said. “Above 90 per cent of the youth have cast their votes, as they were more enthusiastic from the day one of the election process,” he added.

Even candidates contesting for the posts of sarpanch and panch said when they were campaigning in their villages young voters asked them a number of questions regarding their manifestos and other development issues. “The youth don’t want to get involved in divisive politics. They only want development in their areas,” said Yashpal, who contested the elections for the post of sarpanch from Tapyal village. “Go and ask young voters what they want and they will tell you they want basic infrastructure in their villages and nothing else,” he added.

“We have nothing to do with the separatists or with the issues of any political party. We want basic facilities like schools, colleges and hospitals in our village and that is the reason behind the maximum participation of the youth in the elections,” said Ajit Singh, a resident of Rajpura village.

He added, “For the past seven years, the panchayats were lying dissolved and when the government gave us an opportunity to elect our own representatives, we should not miss it”. “Whenever we face any difficulty we have to approach the MLA or the MLC of the area to get our work done. But now these sarpanches and panches will be there to address our problems,” said Rashid Ahmed, a college student of Rajpura village.

In the earlier two phases of the panchayat elections, the participation of youths was recorded at the maximum.