[bblost]

Drove from Hyderabad to Chennai.
Only one toll gate had some cops. They asked me to stop. When they saw I was with family they waved me thru without any checking.

[drmohitg]

Will be travelling to Somnath and Dwarka from Vadodara on the 25th april weekend in my Altis with parents. The election date in gujarat is 30 April I guess. Should I expect any trouble? From the thread it seems this is not an issue in GJ. My car is anyways DL registered.

[honeybee]

Please carry original vehicle documents and make sure the documents are in order, especially the PUC.

[tharian]

Originally Posted by tharian

I am planning to do a day ride tomorrow(Election day in KA) probably towards Chamrajnagar side. Should I be worried about anything?
Will be riding , so I am guessing there is no hassle.

I will be voting and then leaving, for sure.

Did this ride on Saturday and it was a round trip .

A small report on road conditions on this route since it was a round trip from Bangalore-Bangalore and no dedicated threads.

The route was,
Bangalore-Kanakapura-Kollegal-Chamrajnagar-Sathyamangalam-Bhavani-Mettur-Thoppur-Krishnagiri-Bangalore.

For all the bikers out here, I would suggest this route for a one day ride. It is a perfect mix of all types of roads from single lane state highways to AH's. There is a lovely ghat section between Chamrajnagar and Sathy with proper markings and signboards as well as guardrails- which looks more like a show than protection.

Will use this road to head to Coimbatore and beyond as well when going to Calicut, (cut off at Chamrajnagar). Anyday better than the Bangalore-Mysore highway.

The roads were super all throughout except for a very small patch between Bhavani and Mettur. Traffic right from Kanakapura till the AH is low and one can enjoy the empty well paved roads to to the full.

I was surprised as to how much the small towns on TN have improved. There were SBI Atm's located every few towns.
The heat got bad only after Bhavani which I crossed post 1pm. The Mettur Dam is now closed for 4 wheelers and only 2 wheelers are allowed on it which is good since it is a very narrow stretch of road.

Surprisingly, for the first time I did not spot any accidents on Thoppur Ghats.
Total distance covered was 550kms.

We drove on our XUV 500 from Bangalore to Chennai on 17/18 April 2014. We were not stopped for checking by RTO/cops/election officials anywhere. The details are here.

[Samurai]

We have come a long way since the 80s. The election day in the 80s or before were so rife with violence, booth capturing, road blocks, etc., we couldn't dream of going anywhere except the local polling station. Now people are doing long distance drives, quite uneventfully.

[FlyingSpur]

16th April: Mumbai to Udaipur. Only one check at GJ-RJ border. Friendly, asked questions, video recorded, registration number/name/mobile noted, and onward.

17th April: Election day in RJ. Drove Udaipur to Jaipur without a single check.

20th April: Drove the entire Jaipur to Mumbai stretch. One check at GJ a few kms after the RJ-GJ border. Extremely friendly folks and routine checks, details noted, no problem.

The empty roads made this drive entirely worthwhile.

[kewlferrari]

I did Delhi - Sawai Madhopur on 11th April and just before Dausa we swere stopped for routine checking. We were asked where we were comong from and our destination. We were also informed that the enquiry is being done because of the elections. All in all a pleasant experience, wasn't asked for any doscuments and they didn't check the car.

On our return from Sawai Madhopur on the 14th, we were stopped befor Lalsot and I was asked to park the car on the side as the car had to be checked. The EC officer was pleasant and again did some basic enquiries. He asked the police constables to check my car and they even wanted to check the luggage.

Wouldn't call it a thorough check but atleast thye got the luggage out of the boot and checked the pieces after opening the zippers etc.

Again no car documents were asked for, and after a 10 minute stop I was allowed to drive out.

I was impressed with the EC and their drive of controlling cash + liquor. The officers were couteous and weren't rude at all.

[tsk1979]

Let me pen down my exprience.
We started for Spiti a day before the election day.
Haryana, Delhi and CHD were going to elections the following day.

No checkpost at HR/DL border nor at UP/DEL border.

After crossing Karnal came across a major checkpost. Manned by commandos in Battle fatigues.

They waved us down, then saw my wife driving, and waved us on. No checking after that. By the time we came back, elections were all done, no issues.

I guess vehicle impounding is more common in East India.
Spoke to folks back home in Punjab. People are running their boleros and Scorpios and Safaris without fear. However, taxi guys are a scared lot and taxi fares have gone up.

[Sommos]

Originally Posted by Sommos

If you're scared to cross this route due to the elections why don't you take the route through Jamshedpur avoiding WB completely. There is a diversion from Balasore-Baripada-Bisoi-Rairangpur-Jamshedpur, the road may not be very good but is can be done safely.

Originally Posted by anujmishra

I am all set to leave for JH from Bangalore on 1st May. I will driving solo in Tata Safari. I am taking all kind of risk to drive to JH. I may plan to change my route little bit to avoid most part of West Bengal. I would be taking Bangalore - Vizag - Bhubneshwar - Balasore - Baripada - Jamshedpur - Dhanbad - Giridih. Still not decided yet. My original plan is to take all GQ road till Gobindpur in Dhanbad. Hope everything goes uneventful apart from usual checking by police/election commission officials.

It is nice to learn that you're somewhat convinced to avoid WB, but still you would be crossing through the state while travelling from Tata to Dhanbad.

Wish you best of luck for the journey and do share your experience.

Originally Posted by kewlferrari

I did Delhi - Sawai Madhopur on 11th April and just before Dausa we swere stopped for routine checking. We were asked where we were comong from and our destination. We were also informed that the enquiry is being done because of the elections. All in all a pleasant experience, wasn't asked for any doscuments and they didn't check the car.

On our return from Sawai Madhopur on the 14th, we were stopped befor Lalsot and I was asked to park the car on the side as the car had to be checked. The EC officer was pleasant and again did some basic enquiries. He asked the police constables to check my car and they even wanted to check the luggage.

Wouldn't call it a thorough check but atleast thye got the luggage out of the boot and checked the pieces after opening the zippers etc.

Again no car documents were asked for, and after a 10 minute stop I was allowed to drive out.

I was impressed with the EC and their drive of controlling cash + liquor. The officers were couteous and weren't rude at all.

This is because he is not a regular police person but a common citizen like you and me, who have been posted temporarily to do this duty.

[saket77]

Leaving for Bihar by train. There are elections to be held on 24th, so to avoid any 'confrontations' I decided to play safe. More so, because I will be returning alone and being a guy, I may be subject of some doubt to the cops. Planned by train to avoid such hassles.

[filcord]

Originally Posted by Samurai

We have come a long way since the 80s. The election day in the 80s or before were so rife with violence, booth capturing, road blocks, etc., we couldn't dream of going anywhere except the local polling station. Now people are doing long distance drives, quite uneventfully.

I fully agree. I drove from Goa to Vellore on the day when voting was scheduled in Goa. I also drove Vellore to Bangalore on the day when voting was scheduled in Karnataka. It could not have been more peaceful and uneventful.
Democracy, for all its warts, is something we have tenaciously held on to since 1947. This is not anything many other Asian countries with the exception of Japan, can boast of.
And full marks to the institution of the Election Commission. They are bringing all the muscle and money men in line, though there may still be a lot to be done.

[arun_josie]

I drove from Bangalore to Nagercoil(Kanyakumari) today with tomorrow being the election day in Tamil Nadu, didn't face any issue at all. No police checks as well.

[thoma]

We had a polling hub at a school very near to my home in Kerala. The day before polling, I could overhear loudspeakers announcing "vehicle owners to park at a particular space and collect allowance before they set off". Later, I could see many a taxi being sticker-ed as "Police" coming out of the gate.

Didn't have the opportunity to see what was going on inside. Guess, taxis are hired for transporting polling officers and stationery to their booths the penultimate day. May be BHPians whose parents are teachers or govt. officers could comment on this better as they are being selected for polling duty mainly; including whether any private vehicles are impounded in Kerala.

[Sommos]

Originally Posted by thoma

Guess, taxis are hired for transporting polling officers and stationery to their booths the penultimate day. May be BHPians whose parents are teachers or govt. officers could comment on this better as they are being selected for polling duty mainly; including whether any private vehicles are impounded in Kerala.

I don't know about Kerala, but surely polling parties (the three persons per booth, who conducts the polling) plus the micro (central) observer are never sent in a car. These people are sent to their respective booths in buses. The cars are mostly used by the district administrative officers.