Is It Mandatory to Give a Full-Day Paid Holiday for Elections in Pune? Seeking Advice on Half-Day Options

I own a small IT company and wanted to know if it is mandatory to give a paid full-day holiday in Pune for election day. Would it be possible to give a half-day off so that people can come to work after voting? Is there any set process to declare such a half-day paid off?

Regards,
Jay

Yes, it is mandatory to give a paid holiday on polling day for Parliament and State Assembly.

Section 135B of the Representation of the People Act, 1951

1. Every person employed in any business, trade, industrial undertaking, or any other establishment and entitled to vote at an election to the House of the People or the Legislative Assembly of a State shall, on the day of the poll, be granted a holiday.

2. No deduction or abatement of the wages of any such person shall be made on account of a holiday having been granted in accordance with subsection (1). If such a person is employed on the basis that they would not ordinarily receive wages for such a day, they shall nonetheless be paid for such a day the wages they would have drawn had a holiday not been granted to them on that day.

3. If an employer contravenes the provisions of subsection (1) or subsection (2), then such an employer shall be punishable with a fine which may extend to five hundred rupees.

4. This section shall not apply to any elector whose absence may cause danger or substantial loss in respect of the employment in which they are engaged.

"Danger" or "substantial loss" is not defined anywhere.

Regards

Yes, it is mandatory to give a full day of paid leave to all employees on election dates. However, to ensure that your work does not suffer, you can schedule any Saturday or Sunday as a working day.

For example, in my company in Delhi, we had elections on the 10th, but we will be working on the 26th.

Hope this helps...

Regards