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Around 40 female sex workers in Guwahati are eligible to exercise their franchise in the upcoming Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) elections.
The Kamrup (M) district administration has for the first time carried out a special drive to ensure that sex workers could also get to exercise their democratic rights. The move has been initiated following a direction by the Supreme Court of India.
According to reports, Guwahati has a population of around 400 female sex workers and among them 40 are eligible to cast their votes in the GMC elections.
Meanwhile, a source in District Legal Service Authority said that around 1200 sex workers have been identified in the city and the number include both male and female sex workers. But the number of male and transgender sex workers who will exercise their franchise in the GMC elections is yet to be ascertained.
The source further informed that most of the sex workers residing in the city belong to other parts of the state and their names have been enrolled in the voters’ list in their native places.
This time, the administration tried to find out if anyone has been deprived from availing the voter’s card as per the direction of the Supreme Court.
The GMC election will be held in 60 wards.
The total number of voters as per final photo electoral rolls published on March 5, 2022, is 7,97,807.
Of the 7,97,807 voters, there are 3,97,128 male voters, 4,00,654 female voters and 26 third gender voters.
Voting will be held at 780 polling stations.
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