If the city wore a blissful look with lesser traffic owing to polls, the arterial roads leading out of Bengaluru were choked through Saturday morning.
Many voted and left immediately for Kodagu and Mysuru where the highways saw the most congestion. Even the highway towards Tumakuru was blocked.
Krishne Gowda, who left his house near Peenya to go to Turuvekere to cast his vote, said there was traffic jam up to nearly 3 km on Tumakuru Road around 10 a.m. “It seemed like everyone was heading out of the city in the morning to reach their hometowns to cast their vote,” he said.
Within the city, however, most vehicles were off the road because of the holiday, while taxi aggregator services were affected as many drivers — primarily from Old Mysore Region — headed to their villages to vote.
Ravi, a driver with a taxi aggregator, returned to his village near Pavagada, Tumakuru district, to vote. Similarly, Venkata Reddy, a driver, went back to Sidlaghatta over the weekend to vote.
“Voting is near-compulsory as the village head questions us if we don’t vote. If we vote, the village head will help us in issues in our village.”
