Retailers, restaurants team up to boost voter turnout with poll discounts | news from mumbai

Mumbai: The city is famous for its apolitical population that prefers to abstain from voting, as evidenced by the 52% voter turnout in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and 50.67% voter turnout in the previous Vidhan Sabha elections in 2019. To address this persistent challenge, Municipal Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani recently convened a meeting with representatives of major retail, restaurant, hotel and entertainment establishments. Purpose: To offer attractive discounts to voters, encouraging them to vote in assembly elections.

The meet, held last Friday, brought together Federation of Retail Traders Welfare Association (FRTWA), Retailers Association of India (RAI), Association of Hotels and Restaurants of India (AHAR), Reliance Retail and INOX Cinemas. Leaders of these groups are optimistic that the incentives could lead to greater civic participation.

“Mumbai has had chronically low voter turnout, so the BMC asked us if we could use our stores to raise awareness and motivate people to vote,” said Viren Shah, president of FRTWA, which represents about 350,000 small and medium retail. outlets around town. “If shops and cinemas in every locality offer discounts, we hope to see a 5-10% increase in voter turnout. It’s the first time we’ve run a campaign like this, so it’s going to be a test.”

This collaborative initiative marks a new approach for the city’s civic body and business, which aims to transform Mumbai’s largely apolitical reputation into one of active civic engagement.

When Shah polled FRTWA’s retail outlets about the idea of ​​discounts ahead of the meeting, he got a 30% positive response. “How many will actually participate will have to be seen until the last week before the vote,” he added.

To show the way, its own clothing store Roopam announced its discount through a massive banner available on polling day and the following day, November 20 and 21, at their showroom in Crawford Market, with the tagline “Every vote builds the future. “

“It is not about the discounts or offers, but about the repeated signs on the shops that will create recall and eventually compel citizens to visit the polling booth one day,” said RAI CEO Kumar Rajagopalan. “We aim to encourage citizens to vote.”

Rajagopalan estimates that RAI has between 20,000 and 25,000 retail outlets in Mumbai out of the 60,000 it has in total, and most will carry visible reminders of the election, having done the same for national elections. “The polling conditions are better than the Lok Sabha elections, which were held just after the weekend and on a very hot day. The change in sales last time was not very noteworthy, but since the goal is not to increase sales, any small difference we can make in turnout is good.”

Sukesh Shetty, president of AHAR with 8,000 restaurants, bars and hotels under their banner, said this is a common practice before elections. “We have done this for the Lok Sabha elections as well, offering a discount of 5 to 20 per cent on polling day and the next day for those who come with proof of voting. People have responded well,” he said. “Participation in it is voluntary, and the units choose the discount they want to grant depending on the project’s margins. At least 4,000 restaurants and hotels under our umbrella will offer discounts, and these places range from small teahouses to more luxurious restaurants.”

Shah added that INOX cinemas will offer one free ticket, but INOX representatives did not respond for confirmations.

With contributions from Linah Baliga