The high-octane Karnataka elections are just hours away, and voters are ready to show up at the polling centres to exercise their franchise on 10 May. To encourage maximum voter turnout, two restaurants in Bengaluru have come up with a tempting offer – free food to those who show up to cast their vote. However, the civic body has poured cold water over the offer and advised the two hotels to refrain from such an activity.

According to a Times of India report, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagra Palike (BBMP) chief commissioner Tushar Giri Nath advised all eateries to not come up with such offers, and said “otherwise cases will be booked.”

The Nisarga Grand hotel came up with the offer of providing free benne dosa (butter dosa), Mysore pak, and a glass of juice. The hotel also offered to hand out free Kannada movie ticket to first-time voters.

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This is not the first time that the Nisarga Grand hotel has come up with such an offer to encourage voters. During the 2018 Karnataka assembly elections and in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, they had offered free items. The owner of the hotel had claimed that around 3,900 voters availed the offer in 2018, and around 5,000 in 2019, reported TOI.

Whereas, the Chalukya Samrat Cafe came up with the offer to provide free breakfast to first-time voters from 7:30 am to 11:30 am on the polling day. TOI reported that the restaurant had sent a letter to the poll commission to seek permission to participate in the same.

Both the restaurants had also said that the initiative was free of political affiliation and had no bias. Their only motive is to increase voter turnout in the city.

With inputs from agencies

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