Voting in Delhi? You can avail a free ride back home with Rapido

Delhi will vote on May 25 for the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, the office chief electoral officer said in a statement.

In an effort to boost voter turnout, Delhi’s chief electoral officer P. Krishnamurthy on May 9 announced an option of free ride from polling booths to home for eligible voters in Delhi.

Krishnamurthy said a strategic partnership was agreed with bike ride-sharing company Rapido to provide free rides to home for eligible voters in the national capital. Delhi will vote on May 25 for the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, the office chief electoral officer said in a statement.

Chief Electoral Officer of Delhi, P. Krishnamurthy, today announced a strategic partnership with Rapido, a bike ride-sharing company. As per the arrangement decided with Rapido, eligible voters in Delhi will be provided with an option to avail a free of charge ride from the…

— ANI (@ANI) May 9, 2024

In the national capital, only electric bike taxis are allowed. Last year, the Supreme Court had dealt a blow to bike taxi aggregators such as Ola, Uber and Rapido after it overturned a Delhi High Court order that had allowed these firms to continue their operations.

In October 2023, the Delhi government allowed the Delhi Motor Vehicle Aggregator and Delivery Service Provider Scheme, which legalised bike taxis in the national capital. The policy outlined several guidelines to be followed, which said the bike taxis have to be completely electric.

The ongoing Lok Sabha elections completed the third phase on May 7. All the phases till now have seen a decline in voter turnout compared to the 2019 elections. The Election Commission of India, after the end of the phase 2, had said it was disappointed with the voter turnout and blamed it on the “rigid levels of apathy” in urban seats.