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Updated - August 26, 2026 12:44 pm IST The Jantar Mantar protest of the young people, led by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has drawn considerable attention to the role that those popularly referred to as “Gen Z” will play in the future.
| Photo Credit: File photo The Jantar Mantar protest of the young people, led by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has drawn considerable attention to the role that those popularly referred to as “Gen Z” will play in the future.
With elections due in seven States next year, including Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Gujarat, there is much discussion about how the politically active Gen Z could impact the electoral outcomes in these States.
The byelection results in Bankipur and Datia, where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lost, have drawn considerable attention to the youth vote.
Many believe the BJP’s defeat in the Bankipur Assembly seat in Bihar, otherwise a stronghold of the party, was largely due to young voters turning their backs on the BJP.
We are not sure how much support the BJP may have lost among young voters in Bankipur, but it is true that there is some visible unease among the youth in India.
It may not be incorrect to bring the youth into the discussion, though it may be too early to conclude that they can upset the calculations of ruling parties in many States.
In light of these developments, it may be appropriate to examine how young people have behaved politically over the past decade.
Data from various Lokniti-CSDS surveys can help identify patterns in turnout, their party preferences, and whether they have consistently backed the winning party or influenced political change in the country.
The survey data clearly indicates that young people did not participate in the 2024 Lok Sabha election in very large numbers, though there were State-wise variations.
Turnout among the youngest age group (18-21 years) was about 6 percentage points lower than the average, while turnout among those aged 22-25 years was higher, at 68%. State-level turnout based on Assembly elections also shows considerable variation.
In Bihar, only 41% of 18-21-year-olds turned out to vote, compared with an overall turnout of 67. 3%. Uttar Pradesh showed a similar gap, with turnout among the youngest voters at 51%, against an average turnout of 61. 1%.
The electoral engagement of young voters appears closely connected to the political and electoral context in which they vote. The pattern was reversed in several other States. In Madhya Pradesh, turnout among the 18-21-year-old was 89%, well above the State’s overall turnout of 75. 6%.
Punjab and Gujarat too recorded higher participation among the youngest voters than among the electorate overall, at 77% and 78%, respectively. West Bengal and Tamil Nadu recorded particularly high youth participation, at 93% and 90%, respectively, among 18-21-year-old.
Among 22-25-year-olds, turnout reached 95% in West Bengal and 95% in Assam. There is, therefore, no single pattern of youth participation across India. Young voters can be among the least active sections of the electorate in one State and among the most active in another.
Even within the youth category, participation varies with age. Their electoral engagement appears closely connected to the political and electoral context in which they vote. There does not seem to be a single youth vote in Indian politics.
West Bengal offers a striking example of how quickly youth preferences can shift between elections. Between 2021 and 2026, there was a marked movement away from AITC+ (All India Trinamool Congress+) towards the BJP among younger voters.
In 2026, BJP support among 18-21-year-olds stood at 51%, compared with 33% for AITC+. Among 22-25-year-olds, the contest was closer, with BJP at 46% and AITC+ at 43%. This was a departure from 2021, when AITC+ led among both groups. Uttar Pradesh presents a different picture.
In 2022, though BJP registered a convincing victory, defeating the Samajwadi Party (SP), the SP was not far behind in terms of support amongst the young voter.
The BJP+ received 44% among both 18-21-year-old and 22-25-year-old, while SP+ remained a significant competitor with 38% and 39%, respectively.
Together, these cases demonstrate that young voters can shift substantially between elections or display relatively stable preferences within an electoral contest. There is also variation within the youth category itself.
The preferences of 18-21-year-olds are not always identical to those of 22-25-year-olds or 26-28-year-olds. The “youth vote” is therefore better understood as a set of age groups whose political choices may overlap but can also differ meaningfully.
The answer is a clear no; the young voters do not always vote for the winning party/alliance. They may also side with the losing party as had been in the case of Uttarakhand and Bihar.
In Uttarakhand, during the 2022 Assembly election, 48% of 18-21-year-old voted for Congress, compared with 33% for BJP. More importantly, compared with 2017, the Congress gained among the youngest voters while BJP support declined.
Among 18-21-year-olds, the Congress’s vote share increased from 42% to 48%, while BJP’s declined from 39% to 33%. Among 22-25-year-olds, the Congress’s vote share increased from 28% to 36%, while the BJP’s declined from 53% to 41%.
Yet, the BJP went on to win the 2022 election, just as it had in 2017. In Bihar, too, though the Mahagathbandan (MGB) lost the 2020 Assembly polls, it got more support among the young voters compared to the NDA.
Among 18-21-year-olds, the Mahagathbandhan received 39% of the votes, compared with 24% for the NDA. By 2025, however, youth preferences had shifted, with NDA support among 18-21-year-olds increasing to 50%, compared with 40% for the Mahagathbandhan.
The NDA also received more votes among 22-25-year-olds. On some occasions, young voters have been instrumental in bringing about political change, as seen in the recent Tamil Nadu election and the Delhi Assembly elections of 2015 and 2020, as well as the Punjab Assembly election of 2022.
Punjab’s 2022 election offers a clear example. The Aam Aadmi party (AAP) emerged as the dominant choice among young voters. During the Punjab Assembly election, the AAP received 47% of the votes among 18-21-year-olds, compared with 24% for the Congress and 6% for the BJP.
Among voters aged 22-25, the AAP’s support increased to 52%. The AAP’s support among 18-21-year-old voters was instrumental in defeating the Congress government in Punjab. AAP’s support increased from 34% to 47%, while Congress declined from 38% to 24% between 2017 and 2022 Assembly elections.
Among 22-25-year-olds, AAP support nearly doubled, rising from 27% to 52%. Tamil Nadu presents an even sharper example in 2026. The TVK’s appeal was heavily concentrated among younger voters, receiving 69% support among 18-21-year-olds and 61% among 22-25-year-olds.
Its support then declined with increasing age, falling to 50% among 26-28-year-olds and 26% among voters aged 29 and above. The youngest voters, therefore, showed a particularly strong inclination towards a new political formation. Delhi provides another example, but of a different kind.
The AAP was the leading choice across age groups in both 2015 and 2020, with particularly strong support among younger voters. In 2020, the AAP received 58% of the votes among 18-21-year-olds and 59% among 22-25-year-olds, compared with 52% among voters aged 29 and above.
BJP+’s support, by contrast, increased with the increase in the age of the voters. The same broad pattern was visible in 2015. AAP’s support was particularly strong among younger voters, while BJP+’s support was comparatively lower.
The Lokniti-CSDS data presents a youth electorate that is active, diverse and capable of changing direction. Participation varies sharply across States. Party preferences differ not only between States but also between age groups.
Voting patterns can change considerably from one election to the next, and young voters can sometimes move in a different direction from older sections of the electorate.
What emerges is not one uniform “youth vote”, but a young electorate whose choices are shaped by the political context around them. Its importance lies not simply in how many young people vote, but in where they move, when they move and how strongly they move together.
The youth vote is therefore less a fixed political bloc than a moving part of India’s electoral landscape. It may be worth keeping an eye on how the young voters will behave politically in forthcoming Assembly elections. (Sanjay Kumar is the Professor and an Election Analyst.
Krishangi Sinha is a Researcher with Lokniti-CSDS. Views expressed are personal. ) Published - August 26, 2026 07:00 am IST Text and Context / The Hindu Explains Terms & conditions | Institutional Subscriber Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences.
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