With the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections starting on Friday, online commerce companies, including food delivery platforms, are considering options such as levying a surcharge and extending delivery time on poll days to deal with voting by delivery agents, industry sources said.
Most e-commerce platforms, particularly quick commerce companies, have not announced any holiday for delivery agents on the day of poll, unlike the mandatory paid holiday given to their employees, in line with Section 135B of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
Quick commerce players and food delivery platforms are likely to see a surge in orders on poll days, as most brick-and-mortar establishments will be mandated to remain shut for the better part of the day.
When contacted, a BigBasket spokesperson said the delivery slots of its quick commerce arm BBNow are scattered across the day, which will allow delivery executives good hours of gap in between to exercise their voting rights.
While Zomato and Swiggy declined to comment, several delivery agents that FE spoke to said they were not aware of any holiday on the day of poll. Meanwhile, a Flipkart spokesperson said that the company was providing a mandatory holiday to all its employees, without confirming if that included delivery agents.
The Lok Sabha elections will be held in seven phases between April 19 and June 1.
Concerned about the voting rights of delivery agents, an advocate in Chennai has written to the Tamil Nadu state election commissioner to look into the election day operations of delivery platforms and take measures to ensure that all workers have the freedom and facility to vote without economic penalty.
“It has come to our notice that online delivery platforms such as Flipkart and BigBasket 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,” advocate K Narasimhan wrote in the letter.
He emphasised that many of these individuals are gig workers who, fearing loss of daily earnings, may choose to work instead of exercising their voting rights. Tamil Nadu votes on April 19.