Thiruvananthapuram | Mahila Morcha, the women's wing of the BJP, on Friday staged protests across Kerala demanding free travel for women in KSRTC buses, as promised by the UDF during the Assembly election.

Mahila Morcha leaders and activists boarded Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) buses from depots across the state and refused to take tickets.

In Kozhikode, around 20 Mahila Morcha activists boarded a KSRTC bus from the main bus stand and refused to pay the fare.

"The UDF had said during the election that free bus travel would be implemented from May 15. So we will not take tickets. We will not allow people to be cheated with false promises," a leader told reporters.

However, when KSRTC workers informed them that the new UDF government was yet to assume office and no directive had been issued on free travel, the protesters deboarded the bus.

When asked by reporters about rising fuel and cooking gas prices, the protesters did not give a clear response.

They later said that MP K C Venugopal, in one of the UDF poll campaign speeches, had stated that the scheme would be implemented from May 15 and had not specified that it would be done only after the UDF assumed office.

In Thiruvananthapuram, Mahila Morcha held a protest march and later boarded a KSRTC bus, refusing to take tickets.

"It is not our fault that the ministers have not been sworn in. They are engaged in group politics. Is it our mistake that despite the election results being announced two weeks ago, the government has not been formed," a protester asked.

Free bus travel for women in KSRTC was one of the five guarantees announced by Rahul Gandhi if the Congress-led UDF came to power in Kerala.

The Chief Minister-designate V D Satheesan and other ministers are scheduled to be sworn in on May 18 following the UDF's victory in the Assembly election.