Delhi’s draft electoral roll, published on 31 August, left out 4.76 million names—33% of the city’s previous electorate. Sex workers in the GB Road red-light district have been particularly affected: at least 500 of about 650 sex workers previously listed locally were marked “shifted” or could not establish eligibility because they lacked required documents.
India’s special intensive revision, or SIR, requires voters to show a link to a relevant previous electoral roll or provide prescribed records such as a passport, birth certificate or education certificate. Aadhaar can establish identity but does not by itself prove citizenship or eligibility to vote under the process.
Why GB Road residents are struggling to stay on the roll
Many women in GB Road have spent years or decades in Delhi but have few records connecting them to their families or earlier electoral rolls. Some were trafficked as children, lost contact with relatives, never attended school or moved between rooms and brothels without a stable documentary trail.
Beauty, who has lived on GB Road for more than two decades, first obtained a voter ID in 2008 after a government booth-level officer verified her address. She had an Aadhaar card showing that address, but could not reconstruct the family or education records now needed to establish her eligibility. Her name was absent from the draft roll.
Key points
- About 2,800 sex workers live and work in GB Road brothels.
- The district’s affected voters were among about 1,300 people covered by local officials.
- The SIR is a nationwide exercise whose first two main phases reduced electoral rolls by more than 58 million voters across 13 states.
Forms, family records and the burden of proof
Of nine sex workers interviewed, none had completed the SIR process. Six said they never received the enumeration form distributed by booth-level officers, while the other three said they could not meet the documentation requirements.
Kiran Deshmukh of the National Network of Sex Workers said the process places the burden of proving eligibility on citizens whose family histories and living arrangements do not fit the verification categories. Sagrika Rajora of Voter Adhikar Manch said people labelled “shifted” can be difficult to locate and that much of the delivery and collection process depends on individual booth-level officers. Read the context: Why India’s exam crisis has become a national student protest.
The problem also affects workers’ children
Dinesh, 23, said his mother was a sex worker and died three years ago without a birth certificate. That made obtaining her death certificate difficult and left him with limited records to establish his maternal lineage.
He said a booth-level officer questioned his matriculation certificate because it did not include his father’s name. Dinesh says his own name is missing from the draft roll, although he does not know the reason.
What happens next
Delhi has begun issuing notices to people whose eligibility or previous electoral-roll details could not be established or matched. Claims and objections from people omitted from the draft roll can be submitted until 29 October.
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