Kolkata, 10 December (H.S.) :

The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, on Wednesday organised Special Intensive Revision (SIR) camps in three of Kolkata’s red-light districts Kidderpore, Kalighat, and Chetla to assist sex workers in filling out enumeration forms for inclusion in the state’s electoral rolls.

According to an Election Commission official, the camps began at 11 am as part of the ongoing voter list revision exercise. “Special camps were held at Five Star Club on Munshiganj Road in Kidderpore and at 148 Kalighat Road. Both concluded by 12.40 pm,” the official said, adding that the camp in Chetla was still underway and would continue until 4 pm.

He said around 70 sex workers participated in the Kidderpore camp, nearly 100 in Kalighat, and around 60 in Chetla. “The participants were assisted in filling up enumeration forms to ensure their names are properly recorded in the electoral database,” the official added.

This initiative follows similar camps held on Tuesday in Sonagachi, Asia’s largest red-light district, where 805 sex workers had turned up for assistance.

The decision to organise dedicated voter registration camps for sex workers was taken after several welfare organisations raised concerns about their exclusion from the electoral process. Many of these women, long separated from their families or lacking ancestral proof, had expressed fear that their names might be deleted from the voter list.

Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal had earlier assured that no eligible voter would be left out, and that special efforts would be made to facilitate the inclusion of marginalised communities, including sex workers, in the ongoing revision exercise.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Satya Prakash Singh