Pune: Around 720 Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) buses will be taken off the road for election work. These buses will be off the roads and not available for service on April 22 and 23 and again on April 28 and 29. These buses are being provided for transporting polling officials and electronic voting machines (EVM).

According to PMPML officials, “Every day around 1,200 buses are available for citizens. On April 22 and 23, the election dates for Pune and Baramati, 361 buses will be used for election duty. On April 28 and 29, date of Maval and Shirur constituency polling, 363 buses will be used for election purposes. As per the requirement, the number might be increased.”

Elections will be held in the Pune Lok Sabha constituency on April 23, and in Maval and Shirur constituencies on April 29. 

“Though the 724 buses will be deployed for election work, there will not  be shortage of buses. On voting day, passengers use public transport to go and cast their votes. The PMPML buses will transport all the polling staffers and the EVMs to the respective polling stations on April 22. The buses will then continue to ply on their respective routes,” the official said. 

“On April 23, the buses will go to the polling booths in the afternoon. They will pick up the polling officials and transport them to the strong rooms and return to their respective areas,” the official added. “Bringing back the polling officials is crucial and we are still coordinating with the Election Commission. We have urged the private operators to chip in and push more buses than they generally ply to keep things in order,” the official said.