Poll Day: Online retailers want to impose taxes
Online businesses, including food delivery services, are thinking about ways to handle delivery agents’ voting during the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections, which begin on Friday. Some of these ideas include charging a premium and lengthening delivery times on vote days, according to industry insiders.
In contrast to the required paid vacation provided to their workers in accordance with Section 135B of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, the majority of e-commerce platforms, especially rapid commerce corporations, have not declared any holidays for delivery agents on the day of the vote.
On election days, quick commerce companies and food delivery services could expect a spike in orders since the majority of physical businesses will be required to close for the most of the day.
When contacted, a BigBasket representative said that the delivery windows for its rapid commerce subsidiary, BBNow, are spaced out throughout the day, giving delivery executives plenty of time between appointments to exercise their right to vote.
Several delivery agents FE talked with said they were unaware of any holiday on the day of the vote, while Zomato and Swiggy refused to comment. A representative for Flipkart indicated that all of the company’s workers will get an obligatory vacation, however it was unclear whether delivery drivers were included in this.
From April 19 to June 1, there will be seven phases for the Lok Sabha elections.
An advocate in Chennai is worried about the voting rights of delivery agents. She has written to the Tamil Nadu state election commissioner, requesting that they investigate the way delivery platforms operate on election day and take steps to guarantee that all workers are free to vote without facing financial consequences.
We’ve seen that online retailers offering delivery services, including Flipkart and BigBasket, are still promising delivery on April 19. Advocate K Narasimhan noted in the letter, “This raises serious concerns regarding the infringement of delivery personnel’s rights, particularly those who are integral to the operations of these platforms.”
He emphasized that many of these people are gig workers who would decide to work rather than exercise their right to vote out of fear of losing their daily income. April 19 is election day in Tamil Nadu.
