Heavy rush of voters travelling to their village, hometown ahead of V-Day

PUNE: On Tuesday, there was a heavy rush at state transport (ST) stands, private tourist buses’ parking and Pune railway station as thousands of citizens travelled to their respective villages and hometowns to cast their vote on November 20 for the state assembly elections. So much so that several political leaders booked ST- and private tourist- buses for their voters residing in Pune to travel to their native place to cast their vote.
Those hailing from Nagpur, Nanded, Hingoli, Nashik and other parts of the state that are at long distances from Pune were seen taking trains to their respective hometowns from Pune railway station.
Shailesh Kshirsagar said, “I am from Kurduwadi village in Solapur district so Tuesday morning, I travelled to my village by train ahead of November 20. There was a heavy rush in the train as most of the people were travelling for voting purposes.”
Rampal Barpagga, spokesperson, Pune railway division, said, “There are no extra trains provided by the railway for the state elections but there is a long waiting for regular trains running from the Pune railway division.”
Meanwhile, since the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) has provided a large number of ST buses across the state for election duty, only Shivshahi, Shivneri and E-Shivai buses were running on various routes from the Pune MSRTC division.
Sachin Shinde, divisional traffic officer, MSRTC Pune, said, “There are a total 580 buses in the Pune MSRTC division out of which 527 buses have been given for election duty. But all our luxury Shivshahi, Shivneri and E-Shivai buses are running on the Kolhapur, Sambhaji Nagar, Mumbai, Solapur and Nashik routes. There is good response to these buses as people are travelling to their hometowns for voting.”
Several political parties and organisations booked buses for their voters to travel to their respective constituencies to cast their vote/s on Wednesday. Kiran Desai, working president of the Pune Bus Owners Association, said, “There is huge response to private tourist bus booking for voting day and more than 2,500 buses are headed all across the state from Pune city on Tuesday and Wednesday. It is good that there is awareness amongst people and they want to cast their vote.”
Interestingly, the ‘Vidarbha Youth Association’ booked more than 35 private tourist buses for voters hailing from Vidarbha. Around 1,200 citizens working in Pune hailing from districts in Vidarbha were provided the facility free-of-cost. “We have arranged free transportation for voters hailing from districts in Vidarbha so since Tuesday afternoon, we have sent around 35 buses from Pune and after casting their vote on Wednesday, the voters will return by the same buses,” said Dr Tilak, coordinator of the association.