Citizens offered free beer, taxi rides, and health check-ups to boost voter turnout

Citizens offered free beer, taxi rides, health check-ups to boost voter turnout

Gideon Nicholas Day

April 26, 2024 9:04 AM

Several businesses in Bengaluru, a city in southern India known for its low voter turnout, are rolling out a range of incentives to encourage people to vote in the general election.

Citizens offered free beer, taxi rides, health check-ups to boost voter turnout

Faced with consistently low turnout, hotels, taxi services, and other firms are launching initiatives to boost voter participation.

These initiatives include complimentary beer, discounted cab rides, and even free health check-ups.

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In some eateries, customers are required to show their ink-stained fingers as proof of voting.

Bengaluru is scheduled to vote on Friday in the second round of India's seven-phase election.

The state's high court recently permitted a hotel association to offer free or discounted food as long as it adheres to election guidelines.

"Different hotels and restaurants will offer different incentives to voters based on their discretion," said PC Rao, president of the hotel association, speaking to the Bangalore Mirror newspaper. "Some will provide free coffee, dosas, and fruit juice to combat the heat, while others will offer food discounts or special deals."

In the 2019 general election, Bengaluru South recorded the lowest voting percentage in Karnataka state at 53.7%, with similarly low turnouts in Bengaluru Central (54.3%) and Bengaluru North (54.7%) compared to the state's total turnout of 68%.

While many companies began encouraging residents to vote last week, offers were announced following the court's decision on Wednesday.

Wonderla, a popular amusement park, is offering discounted tickets to voters, while Deck of Brews, a city pub, is providing free beer to its first 50 voting customers.

Ridesharing app Blu-Smart is offering a 50% discount on rides within 30km of polling stations, and taxi aggregator Rapido is offering free rides to elderly and disabled voters.

"This is our way of celebrating democracy and the importance of voting," said Gopi Chand Cherukuri, co-founder of Mr. Philly's, speaking to The Indian Express. The restaurant is offering a 30% discount on burgers and milkshakes to the first 100 voters.

"We hope that this initiative sparks enthusiasm among citizens of Bengaluru to exercise their right to vote and make a difference."

Gideon Nicholas Day