HYDERABAD: A major issue mentioned by citizens for the poor voter turnout was that companies refused to declare a holiday on December 1 and instead gave their employees a few hours of leeway to cast their votes and return to office.
In certain cases, such leeways were not provided at all. The Office of the Joint Commissioner of Labour (Twin Cities) has booked nearly 54 establishments for engaging in the same. The offenders’ list includes some popular establishments like Health and Glow, Spencers, Max showroom, Lenskart, Reliance Retail, Bata, Westside, Unlimited, etc.
“The said establishments will be prosecuted before the Metropolitan Magistrate at Nampally, where a penalty will be charged based on the court’s decision,” said Gangadhar Eslavath, Joint Commissioner, Labour Department.
Certain professional groups rallied for alternative means to exercise franchise. “The Telangana Information Technology Association (TITA) believes that 80% of employees working in the IT sector stayed away due to Work From Home, owing to which they left for their hometowns even if they have voter IDs here. To address this issue, the option of postal ballots or online polling must be given,” said Sundeep Kumar Makthala from TITA.