Ranchi provides free ride to urban voters in bid to up polling percentage

In a bid to increase polling percentage in urban booths of Ranchi, the district administration tied up with a bike-taxi aggregator, to provide free pick-and-drop facilities to urban voters, an official said on Saturday.

The service will be provided in Ranchi's 181 polling booths across the city.

As many as 2,377 polling stations have been set up for the election on Ranchi Lok Sabha seat. Of which, 949 were urban booths and 1,428 were rural polling booths.

"I appreciate the initiative of the Ranchi administration for providing free pick-and-drop facility during the election. I just applied the 'vote now' code on the Rapido application and received the service from home free of cost," said Sumit Kumar, a voter.

Rapido Jharkhand Head, Jay Kumar Gaur, told PTI, "Around 800 motorbikes were put into service of the voters by the Rapido. The service was aimed to bring the voters to polling booths and contribute in enhancing the polling percentage."
 

Assistant Returning Officer (ARO), Ranchi, Utkarsh Kumar told PTI, "We have taken various initiatives in a bid to ensure hassle-free voting in polling booths. Besides five model booths and one unique booth, basic minimum facilities such as drinking water and sheds were ensured at almost all booths."

He said that the motorbike service also contributed a lot. "Our overall aim is to increase the polling percentage this election," he said.

The Ranchi Lok Sabha seat registered 64.49 per cent voting in 2019, 63.68 per cent in 2014, 44.56 per cent in 2009, and 55.69 per cent in 2004.

The Ranchi Lok Sabha seat has a total of 21.88 lakh voters, including 10.80 lakh women voters. As many as 27 candidates are in the fray from the constituency.