Retailers and restaurants unite to boost voter turnout with Assembly polls discounts

Mumbai aims to boost voter turnout by offering discounts at retail and entertainment venues on election days, hoping for a 5-10% increase in participation.

Mumbai: The city is notorious for its apolitical population that prefers to skip voting, as evidenced by the 52% voter turnout in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, and 50.67% turnout in the previous Vidhan Sabha elections held in 2019. To address this persistent challenge, municipal commissioner Bhushan Gagrani recently convened a meeting with representatives from major retail, restaurant, hotel, and entertainment establishments. The goal: to offer attractive discounts to voters, encouraging them to cast their ballots in assembly elections.

Retailers and restaurants unite to boost voter turnout with Assembly polls discounts

The meeting, held last Friday, brought together the Federation of Retail Traders Welfare Association (FRTWA), the Retailers Association of India (RAI), the Indian Hotels and Restaurant Association (AHAR), Reliance Retail, and INOX cinemas. Leaders from these groups are optimistic that incentives could drive greater civic participation.

“Mumbai has had a chronically low voter turnout, so the BMC asked us if we could use our shops to raise awareness and motivate people to vote,” said Viren Shah, president of the FRTWA, which represents around 350,000 small and medium-sized retail outlets across the city. “If shops and cinemas in every locality offer discounts, we hope to see a 5-10% increase in turnout. This is our first time organising such a campaign, so it will be a test.”

This collaborative initiative marks a fresh approach for the city’s civic body and businesses, aiming to transform Mumbai’s largely apolitical reputation into one of active civic engagement.

When Shah checked what the retail shops under the FRTWA felt about the idea of discounts before the meeting, he was met with a 30% positive response. “How many will actually partake will have to be seen till the last week before voting,” he added.

To set forth the path, his own clothes wear shop Roopam has announced their discount through a massive banner available for voting day and the day after, November 20 and 21 at their showroom in Crawford Market with the tagline, “Every vote builds the future.”

“It isn’t about the discount or offers, but the repeated signs on stores that will create recall and possibly compel citizens to visit the poll booth on a fated day,” said Kumar Rajagopalan, CEO of RAI. “We aim to encourage citizens to vote.”

Rajagopalan estimates RAI has between 20,000 and 25,000 retail stores in Mumbai of the 60,000 it has overall, and most will contain visible reminders of the election, having done the same for the national elections. “The conditions for voting are better than the Lok Sabha elections, which were held immediately after the weekend and on a very hot day. The change in sales last time was not very noteworthy, but as the objective isn’t a rise in sales, whatever small difference we can make in voter turnout is good.”

Sukesh Shetty, president of AHAR with 8,000 restaurants, bars and hotels under their banner, said this was a usual practice before elections. “We’ve done this for the Lok Sabha elections too, giving 5 to 20% discount on voting day and the day after for those who come with proof they have voted. People responded well,” he said. “Partaking in it is voluntary, and establishments choose the discount they want to give based on their project margins. At least 4,000 restaurants and hotels under us will give discounts, and these places range from small tea shops to fancier high-end restaurants.”

Shah added that INOX cinemas would be offering one ticket free on one, but INOX representatives did not respond for confirmations.

With inputs from Linah Baliga