‘I voted because not being male or female can’t take away my right’

Sanjana Mahant

FOR THE first time in the state assembly polls of Punjab, as many as 91 voters registered under third gender category came out to vote Saturday. The Election Commission had 415 voters registered under third gender category and their voting percentage this time stood at 22 per cent. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, it was for the first time that Election Commission took an initiative to register third gender voters under ‘others’ category and 325 such voters were registered in Punjab. However, just one voter of 325 under ‘others’ category came out to vote then from Ludhiana East constituency. Speaking to The Indian Express, Sanjana Mahant, 30, one of the third gender voters from Mandi Gobindgarh of Fatehgarh Sahib, who voted on Saturday, said, “Yes, I voted. I have no shame for being what I am. Not being a male of female cannot snatch my right to vote because it is my country, my state too. I am a hijra and I am proud of it.”

On 22 per cent of third gender voters coming out to vote, Sanjana called it an ‘encouraging’ trend and said, “People may call us names or pass lewd comments but we have no shame in calling ourselves ‘hijra’ and ‘kinnar’ because God has made us this way. Like males or females, we too were born from womb of a woman. It is good that government is working on bringing awareness among third gender community but a lot more still needs to be done. Majority of third gender voters have still not registered and do not have voter ID cards.”

On the steps that government should take for them, Sanjana said, “Our only source of livelihood is sharing happiness with others and get something when someone is married or a child is born. Many village panchayats in Punjab have passed resolutions that families should not give us anything. We want government to get these resolutions dissolved. We can’t marry or depend on someone for our livelihood. We are illiterates as even schools do not admit children from our community.”

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“People from our community still hesitate to come out and vote because we are still targets of lewd comments when we move out. People forget that we are also humans,” she added.

It was in 2014 that Supreme Court of India, in its path breaking judgment recognized transgender (hijras) or medically operated transgender as ‘third gender’ in India and granted them ‘special status’.

V K Singh, chief election officer Punjab said that ‘efforts were made this time to make third genders vote’. “It is heartening to see that 22 per cent of third genders came out to vote but still it is quite a small number. We held awareness drives for them but a lot more still needs to be done,” he said.

As per data released by Election Commission, 91 of 415 third genders voted Saturday.