By Monica Chadha BBC correspondent in Delhi

Many cannot bothered about the impending state election in the Indian capital, Delhi, which candidate wins a seat in which constituency or which party gets elected to power.

Students show a willingness to become politically active

A non-profit organisation based in the city is working at combating precisely that.

The Centre for Equity Studies (CES) primarily works towards making information on all governmental activities public and with the elections coming up, they are spreading awareness among students.

The co-ordinator for this programme, Anjali Bhardwaj, says the aim is to help these young and first-time voters make informed choices when they go out and exercise their franchise.

"The hope is when they work with us towards getting information on the people standing for elections and the way the electoral system works, they will become more aware of the entire procedure and be more inclined to vote.

"We are trying to make these youngsters go out there and vote to begin with. If we succeed in doing that then we want them to vote sensibly rather than vote for the sake of it."

Stimulating tactics

According to the Indian constitution, any person who is 18-years-old and above can exercise the right to vote.

The first timers and young students - a surprisingly large number - are seldom interested in their voting rights and almost never vote until they reach their mid-20s.

CES get young people to think about candidates

CES tries to catch the ever-fleeting interest of these young people by heading out to various schools and colleges and giving presentations on the work they do.

They usually target students between 18 and 20 years of age.

Interested volunteers are then asked to collect affidavits of all candidates contesting the state elections and put all the information in a common data base.

Affidavits are official documents every political candidate must file with the Indian Election Commission.

These provide with details about the candidate's educational, financial and criminal background.

The students are then asked to help with the analysis and generate a half-page character sketch on each of the candidates.

These profiles are then printed in pamphlet form and distributed to as many people as possible.

Anjali says the advantage of catching them young is two-fold.

"For starters, we get them to experience what it's like to face red tape and then figure out a way of making the state machinery work for them. We think this would make them realise they can make a difference through voting and electing a deserving candidate to power.

"Secondly, we get our work done as well because we are always in need of enthusiastic volunteers who are only too willing to run around!"

Spreading the word

Enthusiastic they most certainly are.

Standing in government offices for hours to get affidavits goes down with them as good experience rather than a frustrating face-off with bureaucracy.

Most young people do not want to get involved in politics because they think it is rather uncool Merrin Verghese, student

Nineteen-year-old Kaamna says this experience has made her a more knowledgeable citizen who is not only aware of her fundamental rights but also her duties.

"People are always aware of their fundamental rights but never of their fundamental duties and I think every citizen should go out there and vote. I most certainly will from now on."

Undergraduate student Puneet thinks this experience has actually restored her faith in the Indian system.

"They kept us waiting in the office to for hours! Had we given up on the system and left, they would have had their way, not done any work and in that sense, the system would have gone to the dumps.

"But we persisted and got it to work for us. That made me realise the system works, and you just need to be an active participant. Being patient helps too."

Merrin Verghese sums it up best when she says, "Most young people do not want to get involved in politics because they think it is rather uncool to be associated with it in any form.