Migrant labourers and craftsmen are not the only people rushing back to Bengal to vote, fearful of being struck off the rolls as “absent voters” if they don’t make it to the booths.
The same fear is haunting executives, techies, lawyers, scientists and other white-collar professionals who work outside Bengal. They too are heading home, pushing up airfares.
A one-way ticket to Calcutta from Bengaluru for Sunday or Monday cost ₹35,000 or more on Saturday afternoon. The fare from Mumbai was more than ₹25,000 and that from Delhi, above ₹21,000. The usual fares are between ₹7,000 and ₹9,000 when booked a day earlier, tour operators and airline officials said.
Aditya Sengupta, an IT professional in Bangalore, arrived in Calcutta on Saturday evening. He will vote in his Jadavpur constituency on Wednesday. “I paid ₹30,000 for the two-way journey. I had booked the ticket a month ago and yet it was so high. Usually, a round trip costs around ₹14,000,” he said. “When I returned home during past elections, the fares would be only marginally higher.”
A software professional based in Hyderabad booked one-way tickets for himself, his wife and their son, spending nearly ₹60,000. “Many are saying on social media that our names might be deleted if we don’t vote. I called a political leader from our area; he said it was better to vote this time,” the techie, in his mid-30s, said. India’s electoral laws, as they stand, do not provide for voter deletions just because they did not vote.
Airline officials said that most flights from cities like Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad were booked nearly full till Tuesday.
“The main ally of Modi-Shah’s BJP, the Election Commission, has created fear in people’s minds through the SIR. Those who can afford it will pay through their noses to buy air tickets,” Trinamool Rajya Sabha member Derek O’Brien said.
O’Brien added: “What about the lakhs of migrant workers who cannot afford to return home to vote? The emperor let them down during the demonetisation. And now again. Shameful.”
Tour operators said the magnitude of the rush this election was “unprecedented”.
“Many people are calling us, hoping for cheaper fares. We are trying to book seats on red-eye flights and hopping flights,” Anil Punjabi, eastern region chairman of the Travel Agents Federation of India, said.
Amin Asghar, president of Skal International Calcutta and director of A And A Travel Zone, said: “Fear is driving people to buy expensive tickets. This is a lean season for travel but the election, clouded by the SIR, has pushed the fares so high.”
Salt Lake residents Diganta and Banasree Ghosh, who stay in Hyderabad, arrived in Calcutta on Saturday afternoon.
“We paid ₹17,000 for each one-way ticket. We booked them four days ago,” Diganta, who works in the chemicalindustry, said. “Such high fares are seen during Durga Puja.”
The Telegraph reported last week how the Santragachhi, Shalimar, Howrah and Sealdah platforms were teeming with returning migrants — construction labourers, house painters, tailors and cooks — men and women.
Many said they would vote to defeat those who had disenfranchised their neighbours, friends and families.
