This Indian airline will fly voters to Delhi for free during election

Your political opinion on social media is often judged by whether you’ve exercised your voting right. If you don’t vote, you don’t get to mutter a word for or against office bearers, ever.

Taking a cue from that, my colleague shies away from expressing her political views because she couldn’t vote last year during Lok Sabha elections. She was 1,200km away from her constituency in Jaipur and slogging at her new job in Mumbai.

Unfortunately, people turn a blind eye to factors which cause separation anxiety during elections: working away from hometowns, lack of money to commute and lastly, bosses not approving your nationalism.

Our election commission gets us though.

According to them, the key blame of the low turnout often falls on the migrating Indian population, moving from Tier II and III cities into metros.

But the times, they are a-changing. And SpiceJet is leading by example. The airline company’s campaign #SpiceDemocracy will offer ‘free tickets’ — with some conditions — to the voters who will fly to Delhi to cast their vote in the elections to be held at the national capital on February 7.

Dear Dilliwalas, you can register for the contest by visiting the company’s site and providing basic information. You’ll also have to write a mini SOP about why you want to vote.

The airline team will screen and shortlist profiles internally. And to avail of the refund, you can book a ticket after being shortlisted, cast your vote and take a selfie with your inked finger.

Not for the gram, but for the airline, and share it across your social media profiles.

In an interview to Live Mint, Ajay Singh, chairman and managing director, SpiceJet said, “Voting is a big part of democracy and unfortunately a lot of our working population who live away from their homes are unable to exercise this right. We will fly you home from anywhere in India and your tickets will be on us.”

Last year, Thomas Cook India ran a similar campaign called Ghar Jao Vote Karo during the Lok Sabha elections. It encouraged citizens to vote by flying back to their hometowns. The pre-election offer provided a discount on return air tickets (per adult) on providing proof such as their Voter ID.

Clearly, no money to travel home to vote isn’t an excuse to escape the election booth drama anymore.