Lok Sabha polls 2014: Sonagachhi's sex workers set to vote NOTA

KOLKATA: The sex district of Sonagachhi is not going to spend a business day waiting in queues. On May 12, when Kolkata goes to the polls, India's biggest red light area will stay indoors. Even if they head to the booths, it will be to press the NOTA button — that's the anger sex workers feel for politicians. Sonagachhi has 11,000 voters, which would make it a prize catch for any political party, especially in Kolkata North that is seeing a close contest.

Candidates fold their hands and circle the perimeter, but few dare step in. Trinamool's Sudip Bandyopadhyay, sex workers say, passed in his car but is yet to enter the five main lanes of Sonagachhi. Congress' Somen Mitra and CPM's Rupa Bagchi are yet to show up though life-size banners hang from the matchbox-like multi-storied brothels. At the low end of the spectrum are girls who pay a monthly rent of Rs 2,000 and make Rs 150 an hour after paying 20 per cent to pimps and 10 per cent to keep goons and cops away. Most work nine hours a day. At the top end are girls who make up to Rs 10,000 an hour. Night charges are double. These girls pay rents of Rs 1 lakh a month. A recent I-T raid unearthed Rs 2 crore in cash earned over a weekend. Sonagachhi is a goldmine. Till the late '90s, the girls of Sonagachhi could not get voter ID cards because they did not have rent receipts, electricity bills, phone bills or bank passbooks. A petition to the EC requesting it to consider their savings accounts with Usha Co-operative (exclusively for sex workers) as ID proof worked.

In 2004, CPM candidate Sudhangshu Sil went to them looking for votes. He joined them in a midnight march to demand legalization of prostitution. In 2009, when Trinamool swept the state, Sonagachhi turned to Sudip for help. "He signed our petition but nothing happened. Legalization can save us from exploitation by the goon-police nexus," said a girl. "The 'A' category girls who operate from premium apartments have powerful connections and are insulated from police, but what about the rest of us?" said another.

"We pay 35 per cent of our income to police and goons with political backing. This can stop if our profession is legalized," said girls at Durga Charan Mitra Street. All streets are "distributed among political parties" but only for hafta (weekly payment) and not elections or issues. NGOs are trying to sensitize them about democratic processes. "This time we will opt for NOTA. We know parties will never legalize our trade," the girls said. "We have asked NGOs to help us so that we can have our own candidate in the next election."