Kolkata: Pool cars are to be taken off roads from April 24 instead of April 27 with random requisitioning for poll duty, a pool car association has written to cops and schools. Many schools have decided to start online classes till the end of polls.Urgency rose after a few pool cars were allegedly intercepted while taking children to school or returning, for election duty on Wednesday and Thursday. “When it’s written in the slips pasted on cars that the date of reporting is April 27, then why are the cars being taken at whims and fancy? We have written to the regional transport office (RTO) as well as cops, and we have decided to take pool cars off road from April 24. Our members and parents have voiced concerns,” Pool Car Owners Welfare Association secretary Sudip Dutta said.Kolkata and its adjacent areas will go to the polls on April 29. A chunk of vehicles, including private buses, govt buses, cabs, pool cars and private vehicles were requisitioned for the transportation of central forces, police, poll officers, ballots and other election-related duties.Around 300-350 cars from schools like South Point, Sushila Birla Girls’ School and Birla High School, have been requisitioned and directed to report for April 27. “Despite our efforts to ensure smooth operations, our vehicles that are already registered on the SUGAM portal for election duty effective April 27, 2026, are still being requisitioned and instructed to report to Fort Williams for immediate deployment,” Dutta said.Loreto House has informed parents that classes will be held online from April 24 to May 6. The BSS School principal Sunita Sen said, “Our school buses are unaffected and running smoothly; however, we do not want to take any risks next week, so we have decided to shift to online mode.”According to the pool car owners, in addition to the requisitioned 3,500 pool car vehicles across the state, another 150-odd vehicles have already been requisitioned from the school sector, claimed sources, adding most schools are aware of the election schedule issues.Sujoy Biswas, principal of Rammohan Mission School, said, “We do not have any control over pool cars, but classes are currently proceeding as normal and the number of absentees has not increased drastically. We will have a clearer picture of the actual scenario in a few days and will make a decision accordingly.”Meanwhile, cops claimed they were coming across cars with stickers of ‘booked’ pasted on them. However, not all of them have been requisitioned legally. In several cases, fake ‘EC papers’ have been used.
