Mangaluru, May 12: Dozens of Manglaurureans who were returning from Saudi Arabia in an Air India flight had to spend almost an entire day at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai for unknown reasons.
According to sources, most of these passengers had gone to Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah and were coming back on Friday as they had to cast their vote in Karnataka assembly polls on Saturday.
An MLA candidate in Mangaluru expressed suspicion that the flight was deliberately delayed. “There were three dozen voters from my constituency alone in the flight” he said.
As per schedule, the passengers who boarded an Air India flight at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah had to arrive at Mumbai at 5 a.m. on Friday and reach Mangaluru through a connecting flight at 12 p.m. on the same day.
However, the flight reached Mumbai only at 3 p.m. on Friday. The Mangaluru-bound passengers in the flight were given two options – either to travel to the Calicut International Airport, Kozhikode, and then take a connecting flight to Mangaluru or take the Mumbai-Mangaluru direct flight, both of which were on Saturday.
The flight from Mumbai reportedly left at 6.50am on Saturday and reached Kozhikode at 8.45am, while the direct flight from Mumbai to Mangaluru reportedly left at 10.25am. It is expected to land at Mangaluru Airport around 12 noon. An airline official said that all the passengers will be able to cast their vote as the poll booths will be open till 6 p.m.
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