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 little intervention from local administration. For first-time voters, casting a ballot was less a civic ritual than an act of frustration. "We don't want speeches," said Raunak Singh adding, "We want someone to actually walk through these lanes." In ward no. 50, which covers Gurunanak Colony and Walmiki Colony, the demand was more specific, with several student voters saying their locality lacked basic study infrastructure. A library, they said, is not a luxury. Simran Ahluwalia, 19, a first-year college student, said she has to travel outside her area to find a quiet place to prepare for competitive exams. "Students here don't even have money to travel to exam centres. A library in the locality would change things," she said. In the stretches of Phase 2 and Phase 3, the issues shifted. A group of young men outside a tea stall in ward no. 6 rattled off their complaints in quick succession-parking chaos, ruined parks, and lightless streets at night....