Ahead of the assembly elections, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) Transport Department has allocated 425 buses for election duty, causing significant disruptions to the city’s public transport services. Since Tuesday morning, passengers across Nagpur have faced long waits and limited options as regular bus operations were severely curtailed.
The situation is expected to persist on polling day, November 20, as only 61 buses will operate on major routes, compared to the usual 430 buses that serve the city daily.
In a statement, the NMC Transport Department claimed that 47 buses were operational on key routes on November 19 and that passengers encountered no issues. However, commuters at bus stands reported otherwise, expressing frustration over the prioritization of election duty over public convenience.
The buses have been assigned to transport polling materials and officials to designated polling stations. Once voting concludes, they will be used to ferry polling parties and election materials to the counting venues on Wednesday evening or night.
With the drastic reduction in public transport services, the NMC’s decision has sparked criticism from citizens who rely on buses for their daily commutes.