Congress leader Rahul Gandhi failed to impress the youths in UP's top five districts having maximum concentration of first-time voters. A closer look at the 2012 Vidhan Sabha election results proves this. Of the 29 seats in these five districts, the Congress was able to win only two seats: Bilaspur and Suar in Rampur. In fact, the winning candidate from Suar seat, Nawab Kazim Ali Khan, is an SP turncoat. Contrary to this, Akhilesh won many a hearts in the region which is evident from the fact that 15 seats went to the Samajwadi Party's kitty.

Jyotiba Phule Nagar tops this list with more than 4.66% first-time voters out of the total 11.30 lakh voters. It is followed by Rampur where out of the total 14.49 lakh voters, 1.07 lakh are in the age group of18-19 years.

Pilibhit stands at the third place with 4.31% voters at the entry-level category. There are 12.68 lakh voters in Pilibhit. Districts of Kheri and Bijnor sand at fourth and fifth places with 4.01% and 3.37% voters in the age group of 18-19 years.

In Jyotiba Phule Nagar, 6.69 lakh voters are below 39 years of age. There are four assembly seats in this district and all of them went to the SP. The victory translated into a hefty vote share of 35.5%. Against this, the Congress candidates in all seats could barely gather 15,000 votes. The ruling BSP still has a respectable presence in these districts. With a vote share of 26.8%, the BSP won seven seats.

But what actually moved the youths? A random questionnaire survey undertaken by the state chapter of Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) on Wednesday offers an insight. "Employment is something that bothers youths the most. Our survey revealed that SP's announcement relating to unemployment allowance and laptops was something that became a plus for the party. Among the rural youths, SP's promise for loan waiver up to Rs 50,000 did the trick," said Sanjay Singh, convenor ADR, UP. The survey included over 70 respondents across 10 districts.