Kanpur: As many as 997 sex workers for the first time will vote from Kanpur in the next year's Lok Sabha polls.
Till now, electoral rolls contain three categories of voters – male, female nd third gender in Uttar Pradesh. Sex workers' names have been added to the list following the order of the Supreme Court. After hearing the case of Buddhadev Karmakar vs State of West Bengal and Others State, the Supreme Court ordered the inclusion of sex workers' names to the voter list on January 10, 2022.
The district magistrate of Kanpur, Visakh G said it will be a historic step from the perspective of the democracy. More and more sex workers, who were hitherto been marginalised, will be integrated into the mainstream of society.
The district magistrate said apart from sex workers, people from some other sections like scheduled castes and tribals will also be included in the voters' list. After the assembly elections held in Uttar Pradesh from February 10 to March 7, the Election Commission had started work on adding the names of sex workers to the voter list. At the same time, on 15 July 2022, the then additional district magistrate of finance department and deputy district election officer Dayanand Prasad had written a letter to the chief electoral officer of Uttar Pradesh that the name of the sex workers had been added to the voter list after verification by all the voter registration officers.
