Maharashtra Assembly elections: Section of Pune’s transgender community boycotts polls

A section of Pune’s transgender community Wednesday boycotted the elections in protest against what it said was the lack of representation of their demands in the elections.

Manasi Goilkar, founder, Shrikhandi Trust, said the decision was taken as the government or none of the parties have taken up the issue of vertical reservation for the transgender community.

Goilkar said they have been fighting for reservation, but no one is ready to discuss the issue. “We have decided to boycott the polls for this,” she said.

The Pune district has 805 transgender voters but Goilkar said the number would be much more. “There are many who have not registered themselves as transgenders. Some are in the closet but are active in the society. Our count puts the number of transgenders in Pune city at well over 10,000. It is unfortunate that none of the political parties or candidates even came to meet us or try to raise our issues,” she said.