Uber India on Wednesday launched a free ride initiative for voters in the Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram districts ahead of the Keralam Assembly elections on April 9, in collaboration with the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), with the aim of boosting turnout by addressing transportation gaps and ensuring that everyone can cast their vote.
As per the CEO, "Voters can avail of free services in the Car, Auto, or Bike categories through the Uber app to travel to their respective polling booths. Locations of all polling booths have been integrated and marked within the app for easy access."
Rides will be completely free for up to 2 kilometres from the pickup point. For travel exceeding two kilometres, voters only need to pay the standard fare fixed by Uber for the additional distance.
The Election Commission of India (ECI), on March 15, announced that the 2026 Keralam legislative assembly elections will be held in a single phase on April 9, with counting of votes scheduled for May 4. The tenure of the current assembly is set to conclude on May 23.
The BJP-led NDA is aiming to unseat the incumbent Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) and gain control of the 140-member Keralam Niyamasabha. The LDF has governed the state for approximately a decade, with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan leading consecutive terms.
The 2021 Keralam legislative assembly elections were held in a single phase on April 6, and the results were declared on May 2, 2021. The incumbent LDF retained power with 99 seats, marking the first time since 1977 that a ruling alliance secured consecutive terms in the state. The UDF won 41 seats, while the NDA saw a decline in vote share and lost its only seat in the Assembly. Following the victory, Pinarayi Vijayan became the first Chief Minister of Kerala to be re-elected after completing a full five-year term in office.
In terms of vote share, the LDF received 41.5 per cent of the total votes, significantly ahead of the UDF, which secured 38.4 per cent. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), secured 11.4 percent of the votes but failed to win a single seat in the election.
Among individual parties in 2021, the CPI(M) emerged as the single largest party with 62 seats and a vote share of 25.5 per cent. The Indian National Congress (INC) won 21 seats with a comparable vote share of 25.2 per cent, while the Communist Party of India (CPI) secured 17 seats. The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), a key UDF ally, won 15 seats.
(With inputs from ANI)