Delhi voter roll removes about 500GB road sex workers
A recent update of Delhi's voter rolls on GB Road, the city's well-known red-light district, has left about 500 sex workers off the list, mostly because of missing documents or being marked as "shifted."
This means many cannot vote, even though some had valid voter IDs before.
As Beauty, a 36-year-old sex worker, put it, "If I had the papers to show my father's birth certificate, or even my own matriculation certificate, then I could prove who I am," and "But how can I go back to my village to ask for these things when my trafficking has brought so much shame to my family that they no longer accept me?"
Missing documents prompt reinstatement calls
Many sex workers here cannot provide the paperwork needed, they have often been trafficked or cut off from their families, making stable documentation tough.
Some did not even get the forms meant to help them verify their status.
Groups supporting them say this exposes big gaps in how voting rights are handled for people with complicated lives.
The community is now urging election officials to let them back on the rolls so their voices are not lost:
Beauty said, "Voting is the same in the realm of rights." When I stand in that queue, nobody is more or less than me. It reminds me that whatever people think about my work, I am still equal to everyone else.