Chennai migrants plan to exercise franchise hit; may impact polling

The night before the day of polling in Tamil Nadu was marked with protests in front of the major bus terminus in cities like Chennai and Coimbatore. People who thronged to get a bus to their hometowns to cast their votes were angry to find limited bus services in an otherwise prompt transportation arrangement by the state.

Price hike by private bus services added to the chaos. News reports and visuals shared in social media showed that the police resorted to lathi charge as people protested.

Boarded the bus at 7.30 in CMBT. Was still in Perungulathur past midnight. Wonder what these people did. So many came standing till Salem in my bus pic.twitter.com/aIODrFM3hB

— Anamika- Don’t @ me- See pinned tweet. (@NameFieldmt) April 18, 2019

I don’t have many followers ! Pls do talk about this now ! More than lakhs of people’s in Koyambedu busstand doesn’t have bus to go their native ! #வாழ்கஜனநாயகம் pic.twitter.com/e9TRHdBnWt

— Sago (சகோ) (@ComradEfrom) April 17, 2019

Similar incidents were reported from Coimbatore too.

“The Singanallur bus stand off the Trichy road (highway) was over crowded, as there were very few buses. Just two buses to Madurai were there; stranded just hours before polling, people got angry and blocked the roads. By morning some of the local buses operating within the city were diverted to neighbouring districts,” said a commuter in Coimbatore who found it difficult to get a bus to Madurai.

Long weekend adds to the woes of festival travellers

With Chithirai festival in Madurai on Thursday (April 18), the crowd had multiplied. It has to be noted that the polling time for Madurai has been extended till 8 pm due to the festival.

The Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus (CMBT) bus terminus and other important bus points in Chennai are known to have streamlined regulations and sufficient number of buses during the festival season. However, no special arrangements were done ahead of elections to manage the crowd.

Major cities like Chennai and Coimbatore have huge number of internal migrant population. Tamil Nadu saw its migrant population dramatically increase by 39 times and saw the highest number of migrants move into the state in the 2001-2011 decade. According to 2001 Census, migrants to the capital city Chennai – the most crowded city in the state—from other parts of the state constitute 74.5%.

High migratory population

As per the Tamil Nadu migration survey, 2015 done by the Centre for Development Studies for the state government of Tamil Nadu the inter district migration for the districts of Tiruvallur, Chennai and Kancheepuram were at 21.71%, 17.72% and 14.52%, respectively.

Among the districts of Tamil Nadu, Chennai, Thiruvallur and Kancheepuram which constitute a part of the Chennai Municipality Corporation, are among the top three in terms of percentage of out-migrants in their population and the absolute number of in-migrants.

The report attributes the migration into these districts to the recent spread of urbanization in the state and the concentration of more livelihood opportunities in and around Chennai.

The rate of migration within the districts indicate the scale of people who have moved into Chennai and the neighbouring districts from other regions  of the state. And, a commotion like the one at the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus  (CMBT) would impact the polling percentage across districts in the state.