Abandoned by parties & waiting to be counted

Aman Sood

Tribune News Service

Patiala, March 26

Transgenders, whose number has doubled in Punjab since 2014 (from 235 to 509), blame political parties for ignoring them despite they being registered voters. No transgender has been fielded by any party so far.

The first time that transgenders and eunuchs were allowed to be registered as “third gender” was during the 2014 Lok Sabh polls. The Election Commission classified them as ‘others’. In the same year, 25,527 were registered across the country under this category. While Punjab is yet to see any transgender file nominations, there were four such nominations from Uttar Pradesh, two from Tamil Nadu and one each from Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka in the 2014 elections. 

“There are no separate toilets or queues for us. In many government forms there is no ‘third gender’ column”, points out Sonia Mahant, who heads a dera for transgenders. “It is time that the parties mention us in their election manifestos and not ignore us because we are in small number,” said the dera head, who contested MC elections in Patiala a decade ago.  “There are many registered as male or female voters. How will they now change their gender in the voter ID-card”, asked activist Simran Mahant.  

EC figures for 2019 in Punjab show Amritsar has 65, Ludhiana 59 and Patiala 58 registered third gender voters. Officials said they had been trying their best to ensure that all voters from the category were enlisted under a separate column. “They can enlist themselves as ‘third gender’ as a candidate as well as voter. But most have shown reluctance to do so,” said an electoral officer.

In numbers

• There has been an increase of 45% of ‘Other’ voters — from 25,527 in 2014 to 41,292 in 2019
• Their number in Uttar Pradesh stands at 8,426, Karnataka 6,132, Tamil Nadu 5,472 and AP 3,761
• None registered under ‘Other’ category in Arunachal, Goa, Haryana, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Lakshwadeep
• Of the 13,039 NRI voters in 2014, only one was registered as ‘Other’ from TN
• Their number now is 20 of the total 71,735 such voters abroad, with 8 from Kerala and Karnataka 7
• As per the law, only those who undergo sex-change surgery and present a medical certificate are considered transgenders

Those who made it

• In 1998, Shabnam Mausi (pic), a eunuch, was elected as MLA in MP. After her, Kamala Jaan  was elected from Raigarh (Chhattisgarh) in 2000. She became the first eunuch mayor. 
• Again in 2015, Madhu Kinnar won the the mayor’s poll in Raigarh as an Independent candidate
• However, no state has yet sent a transgender to the Lok Sabha
• In the last LS polls, there were nine nominations by the ‘Other’ gender— four from UP, two from TN and one each from Himachal, Maharashtra and Karnataka 
• However, those in fray lost the polls and saw their security deposit forfeited