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The 2024 Lok Sabha polls kicked off Friday with polling for the first phase going on in 102 seats spread across 21 states and Union territories. (Representational image/PTI)
Chennai High Court lawyer K Narasimhan says as per government order, April 19 has been officially declared a public holiday under section 25 of the Negotiable Instruments Act 1881 to facilitate the electoral process
A complaint has been filed against e-commerce major Flipkart and Tata Group firm BigBasket for allegedly making delivery boys work on the day of voting on April 19 in the state. In the complaint filed before Tamil Nadu state election commissioner B Kothi Nirmalasamy on Wednesday, Chennai High Court lawyer K Narasimhan has stated that despite the state government declaring leave of April 19 for the election day, Flipkart and BigBasket are promising guaranteed delivery of orders even on the day of voting.
Narasimhan said that as per government order April 19 has been officially declared a public holiday under section 25 of the Negotiable Instruments Act 1881 to facilitate the electoral process. He said that the Labour Welfare and Skill Development Department of Tamil Nadu has mandated a paid holiday for all employees working in shops, commercial establishments, industrial establishments and IT companies on April 19 to ensure their participation in the democratic process.
“Despite the directive, it has come to our notice that online delivery platforms such as Flipkart and Big Basket are continuing to guarantee delivery services on April 19. This raises serious concerns regarding the infringement of delivery personnel’s rights, particularly those who are integral to the operations of these platforms,’ the complaint said. The complainant has demanded an investigation into the claims of e-commerce of guaranteed delivery on voting day and to take appropriate measures to uphold the democratic rights of all workers irrespective of their state of origin.
When contacted by PTI, Flipkart said it is giving paid holidays to only eligible employees. “At the Flipkart group, we’re following all the directives and guidelines provided by the authorities with regard to polling day, and are giving all eligible employees a paid holiday to exercise their franchise. In addition, we have taken steps to drive awareness and encourage employees to vote,” the Flipkart spokesperson said.
April 19: First Phase of Lok Sabha Polls in 102 Seats
The 2024 Lok Sabha polls kicked off Friday with polling for the first phase going on in 102 seats spread across 21 states and Union territories. Among those in the fray are Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Sarbanada Sonowal and Bhupendra Yadav, Gaurav Gogoi of Congress, DMK’s Kanimozhi and K Annamalai of BJP.
Simultaneously, Assembly elections in Arunachal Pradesh (60 seats) and Sikkim (32 seats) will also be held.
Voting began at 7 am and will end at 6 pm. The Election Commission has deployed over 18 lakh polling personnel across 1.87 lakh polling stations where over 16.63 crore voters will exercise their franchise.
Voters include 8.4 crore men, 8.23 crore women and 11,371 from third gender. There are as many as 35.67 lakh first time voters, besides 3.51 crore young voters in the age group of 20-29 years.
While the BJP-led NDA under Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking a stronger majority, the constituents of the opposition INDIA bloc are hoping for a rebound after facing reverses in the 2014 and 2019 elections.
Polling will be held in all seats of Tamil Nadu (39), Uttarakhand (5), Arunachal Pradesh (2), Meghalaya (2), Andaman and Nicobar Islands (1), Mizoram (1), Nagaland (1), Puducherry (1), Sikkim (1) and Lakshadweep (1).
Besides, there will be voting in 12 seats in Rajasthan, 8 in Uttar Pradesh, 6 in Madhya Pradesh, 5 seats each in Assam and Maharashtra, 4 in Bihar, 3 in West Bengal, 2 seats in Manipur, and one seat each in Tripura, Jammu and Kashmir and Chhattisgarh.
Campaigning for the first phase ended Wednesday evening.
Besides Gadkari, Sonowal and Yadav, six other Union ministers – Kiren Rijiju, Sanjeev Baliyan, Jitendra Singh, Arjun Ram Meghwal, L Murugan and Nisith Pramanik are among the contestants besides two former chief ministers – Biplab Kumar Deb (Tripura) and Nabam Tuki (Arunachal Pradesh), and former Telangana governor Tamilisai Soundararajan.
In 2019, the UPA had won 45 of these 102 seats and the NDA 41. Six of these seats have been redrawn as part of the delimitation exercise.
(With Inputs From Agencies)
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)
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