Drive to enrol ragpickers in voters list

New Delhi, June 28 (IANS) A drive to enrol Delhi's ragpickers in the voters list is on and 1,500 of them have already been registered, an official said Saturday.

"We are committed to ensure that marginalised sections of society like the homeless, ragpickers, transgenders and sex workers are included in our rolls and given dignity," Chief Electoral Officer Vijay Dev told IANS.

Camps are being organised in the national capital June 12 - July 11 to enrol ragpickers in all the 70 assembly constituencies.

"The camps are being organised in collaboration with NGOs and are part of our sustained endeavour in that direction," he added.

The enrollment process is more intense in areas where the concentration of ragpickers is more," said Prakash Kumar, president of Sajag Society, an NGO working for the welfare of the homeless.

"We have already covered eight districts...," he added.

A total of 8,000 homeless people were enrolled in the voters list during the Lok Sabha polls in Delhi.

"We face a lot of difficulties during the verification of the ragpickers who do not have a permanent address. But if we find such people more than three times at the same place, we mention it as their permanent address," Kumar added.