The Madras High Court disposed of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL)  filed seeking directions against respondents to make it mandatory to submit necessary proof of voting to the Establishment to Avail Paid Holiday on poll day if the employee is a voter in the Constituency where a general/bye-election is to be held.

The PIL has been filed by one  B.Ramkumar Adityan.

According to the counsel for the petitioner, when holiday is granted on the poll day, it is necessary that the person should vote on the said day. Holiday is being enjoyed without the employee casting the vote. The same would not fulfill the purpose of Section 135 B of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. The person should provide the proof of voting to the establishment.

Upon being asked that if the establishment is closed on the poll day and the employee wants to work on the said day without voting, whether the establishment would allow him to work, counsel for the petitioner could not answer the same.  

“The purport of Section 135 B of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 is certainly to enable an employee to vote and to ensure that the employment would not be an impediment on his right to cast his vote. However, the prayer, as made, cannot be acceded to”, the Division Bench of  Chief Justice Sanjay V. Gangapurwala and Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy observed.