Pune sex workers boycott voting

PUNE: A bulk of the sex worker community from the

Budhwar Peth

area boycotted the

Lok Sabha

polls on Tuesday.

The community had convened a meeting in the first week of April and all members agreed to not vote.

Tejasvi Sevekari, executive director of the NGO Saheli that works closely with sex workers, said they had decided to collectively boycott the election.

“There was also a discussion on none of the above (Nota) option. Most of them did not know that such an option was available. We told them about it and they had said in case they vote, they would choose the option. So, the handful of sex workers who voted, chose Nota,” Sevekari said.