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Mangaluru: Election analysts and pundits are busy crunching numbers for the Karnataka elections. Some swear by the caste equation as the winning factor, while others say it’s development. These equations could be turned on their head by the new millennials who will be exercising their franchise for the first time.

With every election, the winning margin of many of the candidates is shrinking. The number of millenial voters in Karnataka has doubled as compared to 2013. When the margins are so thin, the millenials could turn out to be real kingmakers in the upcoming Assembly polls.

Close to 38,000 millennials will be exercising their voting rights for the first time in 2018 in Dakshina Kannada alone. These youngsters aged between 18 and 19 form nearly 2.2 percent of the voters of the district. In the district, the highest number of millenial voters are in Bantwal Constituency with 6,063 voters, followed by the Mangaluru City North constituency with 4,863 millenial voters.

Political parties are leaving no stone unturned to attract these young voters. Most of the persuasion is done through social media. Even before the poll dates were announced, the Congress party had launched “Nanna Karnataka” (My Karnataka)-a direct youth outreach- with about 500 college students without any affiliation to Congress. BJP has been regularly holding youth discussions and interactions. Moreover, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also appealed to his party workers to use social media to attract young voters.

The number of millenial voters will continue to increase in the future, thanks to the demographic profile of India. Are millenials the true kingmakers in the Karnataka elections? We will surely know on May 15.