E-Paper
Over a million electors to travel from Telangana to Andhra to vote on April 11
At least a million voters belonging to Andhra Pradesh, mostly settled in Hyderabad and its surrounding districts, would be leaving for their native places to cast their votes on April 11 for the assembly and Lok Sabha seats
Starting Tuesday, there will be an exodus of passengers from various parts of Telangana to different parts of Andhra Pradesh for the next two days as the world’s largest electoral exercise begins.
At least a million voters belonging to Andhra Pradesh, mostly settled in Hyderabad and its surrounding districts, would be leaving for their native places to cast their votes on April 11 for the assembly and Lok Sabha seats.
According to an estimate made by YSR Congress party and submitted to the Election Commission of India, more than two million voters have registered their votes both in Andhra and Telangana, as they have been residing in Telangana for several years on account of their jobs and business activities, but have families and properties in their native places.
“However, they cannot vote in both the places now due to the conduct of elections simultaneously in both the Telugu states in the first phase of polling. But, at least half of them would be exercising their franchise in Andhra,” a YSR Congress party leader said on condition of anonymity.
Trains from Hyderabad to different parts of Andhra Pradesh were booked well in advance. The South Central Railway announced running of 53 special trains from Hyderabad to different parts like Vijayawada, Srikakulam, Narsapur, Tirupati and Kakinada.
“Between April 8 and 10, we are running 16 special trains to Andhra and Rayalaseema regions towards Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Guntakal, Kurnool and Tirupati,” South Central Railway public relations officer Shakeel Ahmed said.
He, however, did not attribute it to the elections alone. “During summer season, it is quite common to run special trains as per the demand. Since the demand for the next three days is more, we have decided to run extra trains to Andhra and Rayalaseema regions,” he said.
The state-run road transport services have also been witnessing huge rush. According to a senior official in Telangana State Road Transport Corporation, instructions have been issued to all the regional bus depots to run special buses depending on the demand and rush.
“The seats in regular hi-tech bus services and sleepers have already been booked well in advance. So, we are arranging special buses for the coming three days. For the regular buses, we don’t charge any extra money. But for special buses, we will fix the fare depending on the demand,” he said.
The RTC official, however, said political parties of Andhra have also been hiring RTC buses to transport a big number of voters from Telangana to Andhra. “There is a huge demand from the political parties for extra buses. We shall supply them according to the availability,” he said, refusing to spell out which party is hiring how many buses.
On the other hand, private bus operators are capitalising on the rush of voters from Telangana to Andhra and have increased their fares abnormally. According to the data obtained from Redbus.in, as against the normal fare of Rs 600 to Rs 750 per seat in an air-conditioned super-luxury semi-sleeper buses, the fares have gone up from a minimum of Rs 1500 to a maximum of Rs 2,900 per seat on April 10.
Independent political analyst S Ramakrishna said it was no surprise that such a huge number of settlers were rushing to Andhra to cast their votes despite heavy train and bus fares.
“For the first time, elections are keenly fought in Andhra Pradesh after bifurcation and for political parties, every vote counts. Secondly, the voting pattern of settlers is divided, as was witnessed in the recent Telangana elections in some constituencies like Kukatpally. So, their voting will play a crucial role in deciding the fate of the parties in Andhra,” he said.
