Voters' rush from Hyderabad to Andhra Pradesh continues

Hyderabad, May 12: With few hours to go for polling, the movement of Andhra Pradesh voters settled in Hyderabad back home to cast ballots continued on Sunday.

Buses and trains were crowded as voters were heading to various towns and villages in Andhra Pradesh to participate in the polling for simultaneous elections to the Assembly and Lok Sabha.

Various bus and railway stations were crowded with passengers, eager to reach their destinations in time. First-time voters were excited to participate in the festival of democracy.

However, the passengers at bus stations complained that buses were not available even after waiting for several hours. Heavy traffic was seen on roads while long queues of vehicles were seen at toll gates as many families were heading to their destinations in their own cars.

Many voters were also travelling to their native places within Telangana to cast their votes in Lok Sabha polls.

Hyderabad-Vijayawada, Hyderabad-Warangal and other roads witnessed heavy traffic.

Long queues of vehicles, heading to Andhra Pradesh as well as Suryapet and Khammam districts in Telangana, were seen at Pantangi toll plaza.

Though Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) and Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) were operating additional services to Andhra Pradesh to meet the huge rush of passengers, these were not proving adequate.

TSRTC Managing Director V.C. Sajjanar said 590 special buses were being operated for Andhra Pradesh to meet the increased demand.

The TSRTC authorities also pressed into service 140 additional buses on the Hyderabad-Vijayawada route.

It is also running 1,500 special buses from Hyderabad to the districts in Telangana. The management has instructed the field-level officials to make buses available from time to time depending on the passenger traffic.

On the other hand, techies, other private employees, business persons, and students were all heading to their native places to avail the extended weekend as Monday has been declared a general holiday on account of polling.

Many families were travelling to Vijayawada, Guntur, Visakhapatnam and other towns in coastal Andhra. A large number of passengers are also heading to Kurnool, Anantapur, Kadapa, Tirupati and other places in Rayalaseema.

The usually busy roads in Hyderabad wore a near-deserted look on Sunday. Such scenes are witnessed only on Sankranti, where lakhs of people travel to their home towns to celebrate the harvest festival.

About 12 lakh voters of Andhra Pradesh origin reside in Hyderabad and a majority of them are likely to cast their votes.

Elections for all 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana and the 175-member Andhra Pradesh Assembly and the state's 25 Lok Sabha seats are scheduled on Monday.