Travelling long to get inked in the 2026 Assembly elections

When election dates were announced on March 15, Kottivakkam resident and general secretary of Confederation of Tamilnadu Malayalee Associations Anwar M.P. was furiously scrolling down IRCTC website to book four train tickets to his hometown in Kannur district of Kerala. A resident of Chennai for the last three decades, the businessman makes travel plans to his native place every election season (that includes panchayat elections) sufficiently ahead of time.

Kerala goes to the hustings on April 9, as do Assam and Puducherry. Further down the “poll procession” are Tamil Nadu (April 23) and West Bengal (April 23 and 29).

Also read: The experience of travelling alone as a woman to cover elections

Travel plans are being meticulously etched by residents of Chennai with their votes parked in other states. And associations representing the interests of those from these states who have “pitched tent” in Chennai for work and business note that with intervention by the Tamil Nadu government and Southern Railway, these travel plans need not be as stressful as they currently are.

The Confederation of Tamilnadu Malayalee Associations has made a representation to the State Government to run additional trains to clear the rush of migrants wanting to vote in their hometowns. “This year, we made the representation more than two months ago so that there is ample time to press more trains into service,” says Anwar.

While Southern Railway does operate special trains during festivals and election season, many say the announcement on additional trains is made at the eleventh hour, which detracts from the usefulness of this exercise.

As Easter, Assembly Polls and Vishu come in quick succession, Anwar says there’s demand for bus and train tickets to Kerala.

Natvar Thidar, aged 44 and working as a cook in Chennai for the last 15 years, notes: “I paid extra money to an agent and got a confirmed ticket on Coromandel Express.”

“There are less number of trains to north Malabar and towards Mangalore, so we have made a representation to run trains on these routes in particular. We also need Vande Bharat on this network,” says Anwar.

A similar demand has been raised by the Assam Association Chennai, they want additional Duronto Express/Rajdhani Express/Vande Bharat Express to Guwahati.

Mini Bengal in Chennai

In Sowcarpet and Park Town, Tarun Kumar Das has been working with the community of Bengalis to encourage them to travel to their hometown to cast their vote. He says there are close to 30,000 Bengalis working mainly with gold manufacturing outlets. “At least 70% of them have their vote in Bengal and we have already started speaking to them to see if they can start making arrangements to travel home,” says Das, who is vice-president of Rexine and Bag Manufacturers Traders Association – Tamil Nadu and vice-president of the Bengal Association.

Das says the Southern Railway must run additional trains to cater to such rush from people. “The construction industry employs a number of people from Bengal and their should also be some initiative from the industry so that they can also be part of elections,” he adds.

Tamil Nadu Labour Welfare and Skill Development Department has already issued instructions that all employers across industries and commercial establishments, including private sector, shops and factories, must grant paid holiday to employees, casual workers and daily wage earners to travel to their hometowns when voting happens in their states.

‘Vote vandi’

And poll-related travel plans are not always about about tickets. Given soaring prices of flight tickets around this time, and lack of certainty about train tickets are encouraging voters to undertake long roads trips to cast the ballot.

Increasingly many people are seen coming together to hire a bus or van and travel together.

Anwar says he has noticed this trend in the last three years, where people pool in money and book a vehicle that will reach their hometown on voting day and they return on the same bus.

Adds Anwar: “They are called “vote vandi” (vote bus).”