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Uber India on Wednesday launched a free travel scheme for voters in Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram districts for the Keralam legislative assembly elections to be held on April 9. This project is being implemented in collaboration with the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO).
The initiative aims to ensure maximum voter turnout and guarantee that everyone can cast their vote by addressing the lack of transportation facilities. 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. In the Keralam legislative assembly elections held in a single phase on April 6, 2021, 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 per cent 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. (ANI)
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