IT Companies Face the Music for Working on Poll Day

Five Information Technology companies inside the Elcot campus in Sholinganallur that remained open during the polling day were booked for violating the Election Commission's Model Code of Conduct.

First Information Reports were filed against Wipro, HCL, Voltas, Sodexo and Tech Mahindra at the Semencherry Police Station.

Revenue Inspector Jayanthi Mala told Express that a raid was conducted by Sholinganallur Tahsildar D Ravichandran along with deputy Tahsildar Senthil and herself at the Elcot campus after employees of some of these firms sent SMS to Election Control Room stating that they were being forced to work despite the EC declaring a holiday to vote.

During the raid, it was found out that though the employees were allowed to go and vote, they were directed to come back to office.

“These companies were working on two shifts. We closed all the gates and kept open one gate and asked the staff to come out. There were around 4,000 employees in the first shift and another 4,000 were to report to work during the second shift,” she said.

Mala said that polling percentage by IT professionals has always been negligible. “Most of the companies don't declare holiday, so employees hardly vote. The raid was to encourage IT personnel to vote,” she said.

She also added that a flying squad team under a sub-inspector has been posted there to ensure that the companies remain closed till the polling gets over.

The IT company officials could not be reached for comments.

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The New Indian Express
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