Commuters will be hit the hardest in Calcutta during the upcoming Assembly elections, with as many as 10,000 buses going off the road for more than a month, from April 2 to May 11.

?Usually, around 40,000 to 45,000 vehicles are deployed during Assembly elections for transporting polling personnel, electronic voting machines, officials and policemen. This year, the figure is likely to be 50,000,? said a transport department official.

Police top brass has asked for 4,000 buses from North 24-Parganas and 5,000 from Midnapore West to dispatch forces on poll days.

?Earlier, around 5,000 buses and 2,000 minibuses from Calcutta would be deployed on poll duty. This time, the figure will be much higher. Commuters are bound to suffer,? said Swarnakamal Saha, president, Bengal Bus Syndicate.

Transport secretary Sumantra Chowdhury conceded that his department was having problems arranging poll transport. He is chairing the coordination committee formed by the state government to mobilise paramilitary forces from across the country.

?Commuters in Calcutta will be inconvenienced. It can?t be helped, elections are our top priority,? Chowdhury said on Wednesday. ?In addition to public buses and minibuses, we?ll have to deploy even school buses.?

On April 2, 100 companies of forces will arrive from Assam by road. ?We?re arranging 600 vehicles for them. Once all 600 companies are here, more vehicles will be required,? he pointed out

?Even after the third phase of elections, around 475 companies will stay back to guard the strong boxes,? said inspector-general (law and order) Raj Kanojia.

To persuade transporters to part with their vehicles, the government has hiked the rental rates for all vehicles hired/requisitioned for poll duty. Chowdhury said Rs 8 crore is being spent on transport for just the first phase of the polls.