Mumbai: The National Network of Sex Workers (NNSW) has written to Maharashtra’s Chief Electoral Officer seeking special measures to ensure that female sex workers and their children are not excluded from the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls due to documentation and verification requirements.In its letter, the organisation said that many women engaged in sex work belong to marginalised communities and face significant barriers in obtaining and updating identity and residence documents. It said that many of them are migrants, living in informal settlements, and frequently relocate because of eviction or stigma, and have no contact with their families. These circumstances make it difficult for sex workers to meet the documentation requirements under the SIR process, the letter said.The NNSW also raised concerns over the requirement for parental or progeny mapping, arguing that many sex workers do not possess documents establishing relationships with their parents. “Many women engaged in sex work may not possess documents establishing their relationship with their parents, or they may have lived away from their families for many years. Similarly, their children may also not possess documents establishing parentage in the manner expected for verification. In some cases, children have been raised by relatives, guardians, members of the community, or within institutional care, making conventional family documentation difficult,” the letter said.The organisation said many sex workers have deceased parents or do not know their parents’ full legal names, place of birth or electoral history. In many cases, family relationships have been severed or relevant records never existed, it said, adding that expecting such individuals to establish family linkage with earlier electoral rolls was impractical.Arguing that these circumstances create a risk of eligible voters being excluded from electoral rolls, the letter said that such exclusion would undermine the EC’s commitment to ensuring that no eligible voter is disenfranchised.The NNSW also cited Supreme Court judgments – Budhadev Karmaskar v. State of West Bengal and Prajwala v. Union of India – saying that the court distinguished between trafficking and consensual adult sex work and recognised the dignity and constitutional rights of adults who voluntarily engage in sex work.It urged authorities to implement the SIR process while taking into account social stigma, migration, family estrangement and the absence of parentage-related documents.The letter also pointed to examples from other states where election authorities had adopted special measures for vulnerable groups.The NNSW urged the EC to issue the following instructions to all Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROS), and Booth Level Officers (BLOS):The absence of parental or progeny mapping should not be made a ground for excluding an otherwise eligible voter.Where documents establishing family relationships are unavailable, alternative documents and field verification methods should be accepted. Such alternative verification may include previous electoral records, EPIC, records under government schemes, as well as identity or residence certificates or verification issued by the National Network of Sex Workers (NNSW) or registered Community-Based Organisations (CBOs).During the verification process, due consideration should be given to the special circumstances of women engaged in sex work, their children, and other vulnerable groups.Sensitisation training should be organised for election officials and Booth Level Officers (BLOs) on the social stigma, discrimination, and documentation-related barriers faced by sex workers.A grievance redressal mechanism should be established for vulnerable voters whose inclusion is at risk due to the absence of documents establishing family relationships.Coordination should be established with Community-Based Organisations (CBOs) and civil society organisations to facilitate voter verification and inclusion.No eligible voter should be excluded in cases involving female sex workers, their children, and other vulnerable voters merely because conventional documents establishing family relationships are unavailable. In such cases, flexible verification based on the actual circumstances should be adopted, and verification by the National Network of Sex Workers (NNSW) and Community-Based Organisations (CBOs) should also be considered wherever necessary.@media (max-width:768px){.blurb{background:#fff!important;border-left:10px solid #c0392b!important;padding:10px 20px!important;margin:0 0 30px!important;position:relative!important;overflow:hidden!important;}.blurb p::before{all:unset!important;}}