Encourage transpersons to register in voters’ list: Activists

CHENNAI: The Election Commission of India continues the routine to keep the voters’ list up to date by carrying out the annual exercise to facilitate inclusion, deletion and change of address. It also adopts innovative methods to encourage youth to register with the voters’ list once they turn 18. However, there were inadequate measures to encourage transpersons to enroll in the voters’ lists, which denies the rights of several thousands of eligible voters from the community from exercising their franchise.

The recently published draft electoral roll for Tamil Nadu, which has over 6.11 crore voters, reveals that there were only 8,016 transgenders registered in it. Chennai district has the highest number of registered voters of transgenders with 1,118, followed by Tiruvallur district with 720 voters. These two districts account for 22 per cent of the total registered voters, while Perambalur district has eight transpersons out of the 5.62 lakh voters in the district.

The numbers laid credentials to the claims of trangender activists that lack of political awareness and identity proof coupled with social stigma is deterring them from exercising democratic rights.

Chennai, Tiruvallur, Chengalpattu and Kancheepuram would have not less than 10,000 voting population among the transgenders. However, the registered voters is less than that, said transgender activist Kalki Subramaniam. Recalling the survey carried out in 2007-2008 by a group of civil organisations, she said that nearly 30,000 transgenders were identified then though it was an “incomplete” exercise. “There will be at least two to three lakh transgenders in the state,” said the former Harvard speaker. She also pointed out that they should be given horizontal reservation in education, job and seat allocation.

Grace Banu, another activist, also echoed the same and said lack of resident and identity proof and social stigma are the major factors for the poor enrollment of the transpersons.

Enlisted under female category

Founder director of Transgenders Rights Association and former member of TN Transgenders Welfare Board Jeeva said that they distributed welfare board ID cards to 4,000 transpersons in 2007 in Chennai alone. “So, the population of transpersons are manifold than what is there in voters’ list. Many of them are listed in the female category. It should be corrected,” she said and noted that she was enrolled in female category in 2007 and she changed it to transperson in 2014.

Meanwhile, state Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo said that there are challenges to reach out to the transgenders directly to enroll them in the voters’ lists. Hence, the Collectors, who are the district electoral officers, have been instructed to approach civil societies working with trangenders to encourage their registration in the voters’ list.