The upstart Aam Aadmi Party - or Common Man's Party - has drawn in droves of students and other young voters attracted to party leader Arvind Kejriwal's outsider status and his anti-corruption platform.
Anxious to pursue their dreams, young people are particularly concerned with India's ability to add jobs. India added fewer than 3 million jobs between 2005 and 2010, far below the 1 million needed each month to keep up with student matriculation and Indians' growing ambitions.
India's first-time voters came of age in an era of economic reforms that eased socialist-leaning policies and allowed more imports and foreign investment. Annual per-capita income nearly tripled between 2002 and 2010, while India moved from a country mostly concerned with securing food and shelter to one in which priorities are jobs, electricity and infrastructure.
But the riches have rolled out unevenly, creating a conspicuous wealth gap that has fueled frustrations by putting lavish lifestyles in close proximity with the 400 million Indians - a quarter of the country's population - living in poverty under $1.25 a day.
Those gaps are even more visible and public with the technology explosion. Twenty years ago people had access to only a single state-run TV channel and most had no telephone. Today, there are more than 200 TV channels - with some 40 devoted to news alone - while three in four Indians has a cell phone.
"We have no toilets in my home village, but everybody has a smartphone, and we all check every day for what's happening in the campaign," said 22-year-old Hanamanthray Biradar in the southern state of Karnataka, where Bangalore is located.
The massive election beginning Monday will be held over nine days in April and May before ballots are counted on May 16. The first two days of voting take place in the six states of India's remote northeast, with the vote later moving south into mainland India's 22 other states and territories.
The vote is geographically staggered to give millions of police and paramilitary forces time to move around as voters cast their ballots. Whether or not the youth vote swings the result, analysts agree their participation has turned India's political scene on its head.
"Indian democracy is at a peculiar stage of maturity or evolution. There has been a particular way democracy has been functioning for the last 30 years, and there is a backlash against it," said Jagdeep Chhokar, who heads the Association for Democratic Reforms in New Delhi. "With all the talk of the young electorate, the political parties are now scrambling to do whatever they can to grab young voters."
The engagement of India's youth in politics reached a pinnacle three years ago, as they joined urban middle-class protesters in marching in protests against endemic corruption. Their demands for honest governance and an independent anti-corruption watchdog led to anti-graft legislation and the formation of the AAP, which has become the third national party.
The AAP delivered a stunning upset in Delhi's December regional election, launching Kejriwal to national renown and a 49-day stint as Delhi's chief minister. He quit the post, saying the entrenched political system prevented him from enacting real reforms. Instead, he said his scrappy party would focus on national elections and on denouncing deep graft in Congress and BJP.
Some voters say they're already disillusioned by politics and unhappy with the candidates. But they plan to cast their ballots nonetheless, taking advantage of a new choice on the ballot - for "None of the Above."
