Mohali, May 27 -- On election day across Mohali, first-time voters turned out with sharply defined grievances-including drugs, crumbling infrastructure, poor lighting, and a yawning jobs gap-that shaped how the city's youth engaged with the ballot.

Nineteen-year-old Gurpreet Singh, who stepped out to vote for the first time on Tuesday for the municipal elections in Ward No. 1, did not have to think about why he wanted to vote. While pointing towards a narrow lane off the main road, he said, "Every corner here has children addicted to heroin. I grew up watching this. If my vote can change even one thing, it has to be this."

In Mohali Pind, residents say the locality has watched a generation of young men disappear into addiction, with lit...