By IANS,
New Delhi : Some 1,050 sex workers living in Delhi’s infamous G.B. Road red light area Wednesday voted in the assembly elections, thanks to an enrolment drive by the election commission.
Khairati Lal Bhola, president of NGO Bhartiya Patita Uddhar Sabha, said around 70 percent of the over 1,500 sex workers with voter ID cards went to cast their votes in Ballimaran and Ajmeri Gate in the afternoon.
“The others were either not in Delhi, not well or were not allowed to vote as there were some discrepancies with their ID cards,” Bhola said.
Around 5,000 sex workers, excluding women pimps and touts, reside in the 116 brothels situated in 25 buildings on G.B. Road, said Bhola.
According to a senior government official in the area, there has been a steady rise in the number of sex workers enrolling as voters. From 300 who got enrolled ahead of the 2003 elections, the number went up to 1,200 in the 2008 elections.