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Abstract

India, the largest democracy in the world, possesses a large youth population who are voters. In this context, there is some excitement around youth participation in elections. Mainstream political parties have tried hard to capture the youth imagination over the past decade or so. Social and print media have played a vital role in this projection of the centrality of youth within the Indian political environment. However, this overly general understanding is in fact greatly limited by the absence of any data to back it up. Timely intervention in providing data and illustrations in respect of the ‘growing’ vitality of youth in Indian politics. In a comparative perspective, the turnout level for young citizens is particularly low in countries in countries where voting is compulsory, the turnout of young electors were substantially higher than in countries with voluntary voting. Youth turnout was higher in countries where the electoral system facilitated access to representation in parliament for small parties. Youth who are interested in politics, or feel close to a party, or are members of political organizations show a higher turnout than young citizens without these attributes.