From unemployment among the youth and lack of development on one side to nationalism and making sure Prime Minister Narendra Modi retains his post on the other, Mathura voters were split on the issues that were foremost on their minds as they cast their votes in the Lok Sabha elections on April 18.

Part of phase two of polling for Lok Sabha elections, Mathura saw a fight between the incumbent, actor-turned-BJP leader Hema Malini, the Rashtriya Lok Dal-Bahujan Samaj Party-Samajwadi Party alliance's candidate, Kunwar Narendra Singh, and the Congress' Mahesh Pathak.

Ms. Malini had defeated RLD's Jayant Chaudhary, the sitting MP at that time, by a margin of 3,30,743 votes in 2014. This time, many voters questioned her track record over the past five years.

Among those lining up to cast their votes early morning in Diwana Kalan village in Mathura, Jitender Chauhan, a farmer, said: “I’ve never seen Hema Malini in Mathura. She just drove past our villages, we heard. As for the BJP, their promises have turned out to be lies”.

Another voter at the village, Anita, a self-employed tailor, said the benefits of many of the BJP government’s schemes had not reached people like her. “We haven’t got money to build toilets or homes. Forget about latrines, we did not even get the cooking gas cylinders promised,” she said.

Problem of unemployment

For many young voters in the constituency, the problem of unemployment was urgent.

Chand Prakash said he had been forced to take tuition classes off and on and help his family with farming after failing to get a teaching job, having completed a Bachelor’s in Education (B.Ed) in 2015.

“Whether it is the Modi government or the Yogi government in U.P., there has hardly been any hiring. And when some vacancies do come up, the government officials demand money to give the job. How can we afford that,” he asked.

In the heart of town, however, supporters of the BJP said their vote was to make Mr. Modi Prime Minister.

Dilip Chaturvedi, a priest at the Krishna Janambhoomi temple, said: “The biggest achievement in five years is that that Hindus are raising their head high.”

Guddu Chaudhary, a taxi driver, added: “We are very happy with Hemaji. People are supporting the BJP to make Modi the PM.”