Across the constituencies that went to polls on Saturday, many young voters who stepped out said one issue determined their voting preference — the lack of jobs.

Some of them were engineers “forced” to move out of Bengal for work. Some of them were students who were worried about their future prospects in the state.

Aspiring teachers and young bank employees also told this newspaper that the lack of enough employment opportunities was hurting them and many of them thought a change of guard was welcome if it could ensure more jobs in the state.

Sohom Banerjee, 23, and Sourajit Chakraborty, 31, had come together to a polling booth in the Bansdroni area, under Tollygunge Assembly constituency, on Saturday.

“Jobs, or the lack of jobs, is the most important issue for me while voting. I will vote for a party that brings enough jobs to Bengal,” said Sohom, a BTech from a private institute, who has been working with an IT services multinational.

“I had to crack an all-India entrance test to get this job. Our institute’s campus placement was dismal. Hardly any company visited the campus,” said Sohom.

Kalyani Roy (left) with her parents outside a polling booth in Jadavpur Bishwarup Dutta

Sourajit, who came to the city over a week ago to cast his vote, works with a French consulting and technology services company in Hyderabad.

“Recruiters don’t look beyond certain top level engineering colleges in Bengal,” he said. He studied engineering from an institute in Nagpur and got campus placement.

“For jobs, you need industry. I hope the next government pays enough attention to bringing industries to Bengal,” he added.

Paromita Pandey, with her two-year old child cradled in her arm, came to cast her vote in a booth set up at the Future Foundation School at Netajinagar, also under Tollygunge Assembly constituency.

Asked what were the issues uppermost in her mind as she cast her vote, Paromita said: “I have done my masters’ in education and completed BEd and therefore looking forward to teachers’ recruitment tests like TET being held regularly so that we could be gainfully employed. We don’t want to sit idle after completing studies. There is not enough job opportunity for meritorious students.”

Kalyani Roy, 26, who works with a private bank, also demanded more jobs. Kalyani said there were very few jobs beyond a certain level in Calcutta. “Most jobs here are very low-paying. Only more job opportunities can change that,” the Jadavpur voter said.

BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah, have been relentless in targeting the weakest links in the Trinamul’s armour, the lack of industry and employment opportunities in Bengal.

But the Modi government’s own track record in creating jobs is nothing great. Independent agencies have painted a dismal picture of job losses across the country.

Anushka Mishra (left) with her parents in Kasba Bishwarup Dutta

Back in May 2018, the ministry of statistics and programme implementation had released the report of the National Sample Survey Office, which showed that the unemployment rate in India had touched 6.1 per cent —– a 45-year high. The report was ready for release in December 2018 but the Modi government refused to make it public, afraid that it could wreck its chances in the April-May 2019 general election.

This point was highlighted by Sirsha Sengupta Roy, a fresh economics graduate from Dinabandhu Andrews College in Garia, and a voter in Naktala.

“It is difficult to choose between parties when it comes to bringing jobs to Bengal. The BJP is promising to usher in real change but the country’s economy tells a different story,” he said.

Anushka Mishra, 21, who is doing her BTech from a college in Bhubaneswar, rued that most youths from Calcutta had to leave their home after they graduated.

“Job scarcity is the biggest problem in our state and in our city. I want that to change. I want that the new government creates enough jobs for people that are worth their education,” said Anu-shka, a first-time voter in Kasba.