NEW DELHI: Sex workers poured out in numbers to exercise their franchise in the national capital today and said they were voting with the hope that the new government would take up the issue of legalising their profession.
More than 1,500 sex workers living in the red light district of GB Road here had enrolled their names on electoral rolls and most of them enthusiastically turned up in groups at the polling stations to cast their ballot.
"We want a stable government which can bring stability in our lives by legalising our profession. Legalisation would help us get several benefits that the government offers," said a sex worker who did not want to be named, adding that the number of those from her profession who had enrolled to vote had increased.
Another sex worker, Mona, who hails from the Northeast, said, "If we want a representative who will work for our welfare, it is important for us to vote.
According to official estimates, around 5,000 sex workers reside in the brothels situated on GB Road.
As for Farida and Madhu, they said they want to live with dignity and that legalisation of their profession would solve their woes to a large extent.
"We are still being treated as outcastes. We also have an identity and even our one single vote counts and makes an impact. We want the new government to address our problems and help us make our own respectable space in society.
"Like my vote, even I should matter to the society," said Farida as she came out of a polling station on GB Road.