Flipkart Sellers Still Use Packaging With Old Number Which Now Belongs to BJP

Jun. 26, 2018

Dialing a wrong number can often surprise you – whether pleasantly or unpleasantly varies with the situation and how you work your way through the awkwardness it. For a Kolkata-based man, however, it was like a jolt to his political preferences as hecalled Flipkart but received an invitation to join BJP.

The incident began when the said person ordered a pair of headphones fromFlipkartand received a bottle of oil, instead. Infuriated, he called the number printed on the package to complain about the incorrect delivery but the call went through and then disconnected after a single ring.

Before he could dial the number again, he received an SMS, welcoming him to BJP and asking him to complete the verification process by submitting his details, reportsNDTV. The message solicited the man’s full name, address, and “if possible“, his e-mail ID and Voter ID to another number and doing so would “complete the process“.

BJP’s Bengal chapter has denied any responsibility while Flipkart has said that the number was “given up” three years ago. Thenumber was printed on the packaging tapeand some of the employees were still using the rolls of tape with this number on them. “The phone company must have just re-allotted the number, as is done when a number has been surrendered and there is no activity for six months”, it insisted.

But a number of questions arise here, the first being – why didn’t Flipkartinstruct its employees to stop using the tapeswith the older number? The second and the more obvious one is whether BJP knew this and bought the number intentionally. We reached out to Flipkart for a response and are yet to receive a reply from the company.

But as it seems, Flipkart might have traded its number in exchange of a favor from the ruling party (just like Paytm) and while we’re not specifically pointing fingers, our attention gravitates towards the recentFlipkart-Walmart deal. But, that’s liking shooting arrows in the dark and we’ll bring you a more reliable answer once we get a response from the e-commerce giant.