LS Polls: transgenders ready to exercise franchise in district

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: All transgenders from the district gave an assurance to the administration that they would exercise their franchise in the ensuing Aurangabad Lok Sabha Constituency on May 13.

The district has nearly 20 lakh voters. A total of 143 transgenders have been registered as voters with the administration.

Talking to this newspaper, deputy district election officer Devendra Katke said that the administration hosted three-day voters awareness cum enrollment camp recently, a special initiative, to bring transgenders of the district into the mainstream.

He said that the administration succeeded in convincing transgenders and the head of their ‘Gharana (trans household)’ from Gangapur to use their Constitutional right. He said that the number of transgenders from the district is meagre but they assured the administration of using their right on the election date.

Katke said that the administration was leaving no stone unturned to increase the voting percentage in the district and encouraging a third-gender community is a step towards the objective. The deputy district election officer said that voters' ID and Aadhar cards were made available for them besides their health check-ups.

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Transgenders to vote as normal voters

He said that there is no special booth for the transgender as they would have to vote as normal voters. Transgenders are always allowed to vote after registration as male or female voters. So, there was confusion among them over gender recognition. They were recognised as the third gender by the Supreme Court of India a decade ago. Now, there is the option of registration as a third-gender voter.

Their data has been updated on voter records in the district since 2019. The number of transgender voters from the district in the last election was just 25 while this time around, their number grew up to 143 (until today). Perhaps for the first time such a large number of transgender community members will be able to vote.