In red-light areas, 1,360 pushed out of poll roll

Kolkata: Of 4,200 residents of Sonagachhi, Asia's largest red-light district, 1,300 were deleted from the poll roll, bolstering the argument that a large number of socially and economically deprived women failed to make the SIR cut.

During judicial adjudication, cases for 850 women from Sonagachhi were heard. All but one were rejected.



The deletions occurred despite the EC announcing it will hold special public hearings for these trafficked or abandoned women who did not have documents to prove their family links.

A sex worker, aged around 65, who has been living in Sonagachhi for the past 35 years, told TOI, "Whatever documents I had—Aadhaar, PAN, bank account details and rent receipts—I submitted all. But I was not granted voting rights. They asked for a birth certificate, where will I bring it from?"

Like her, several women in Sonagachhi won't be allowed to vote on Wednesday as they don't have papers, tracing their past. A 51-year-old sex worker managed to get her two sons' names included but hers was deleted. Bisakha Laskar, secretary of NGO Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee, said, "My son's name and mine were also deleted even after we submitted documents, including passports."

CEO Manoj Agarwal had visited the red-light area and assured sex workers relief. According to the EC, special hearings allowed election officers to hear pleas and pass a reasoned order on inclusion or deletion. Sex workers here claimed no such public hearing took place.

Similar is the story in the city's other red-light area, located in Bowbazar, also known as Har Kata Goli, in Ward 48 of Chowringhee Assembly constituency. The local BLA-2, Nandini Ballav, said, "More than 60 sex workers in my part have been removed. Some are applying as new voters and some moved the tribunal." She confirmed deleted sex workers attended a public hearing and submitted whatever papers they had.

A sex worker here said, "I came here almost 25 years ago with two kids after my husband's death. I have voted from here several times. I have Aadhaar and voter cards but no document of my parents or husband." Another sex worker said, "I have been here since my childhood. How can I have parental documents? This is absurd and painful."

Even Chowringhee Trinamool candidate Nayna Bandyopadhyay said, "Asking sex workers for fathers' documents is humiliating and insulting."
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