The fares of private buses plying on various routes of Maharashtra have shot up as thousands of voters plan to visit their native places to cast their ballots in the upcoming assembly elections.

Travel booking agents and bus operators told PTI that the upsurge in ticket prices on routes connecting Mumbai and western Maharashtra, Konkan, Marathwada, and northern Maharashtra have nearly doubled for November 19 and 20.

Voting will be held in Maharashtra’s 288 assembly constituencies in a single phase on November 20.

A travel booking agent from Dadar said that after Diwali, the ticket rates on routes like Mumbai-Kolhapur had come down to Rs 500 to Rs 700, but have almost doubled ahead of the elections.

“Around 5,000 private buses are expected to reach various parts of Maharashtra, except for Vidarbha region, on the polling day,” said Harsh Kotak, leader of a private bus operators’ body.

On the eve of polling day, these buses will depart for destinations like Ratnagiri, Dapoli, Lanja, Mahad, Rajapur, Kolhapur, Gadhinglaj, Jalgaon, Dhule, Beed, Parali, Latur, Malkapur, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, and Nashik, he said.

Kotak said the same buses will also bring the migrants back to Mumbai.

As per the bus operators and booking agents, most of these buses have been arranged by either candidates or their respective political parties. However, a significant number of people are also travelling to their native places in their individual capacity to cast their votes, they said.

“Mostly, there are group bookings for November 19 and November 20,” said a bus operator, adding that some candidates also provide ticket money to voters, who then do their own bookings.

A popular online bus ticket booking website also shows a similar ticket fare spike on the routes connecting the country’s financial capital with various parts of Maharashtra.

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