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

Manasi Goilkar of Shrikhandi Trust said the government and parties have not taken up the issue of vertical reservation for the transgender community in the Maharashtra Assembly elections.

pune transgender community, boycotts polls, maharashtra elections, indian express

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. (Express Photo)

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.

While Shameebha Patil is the only transgender candidate in the state, Goilkar said the community has been neglected by the system and the politicians.

Patil, the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) candidate from the Raver constituency in the Jalgaon district, had faced sexist comments from her opponents.

Voting is taking place in 21 of the 288 seats of the Maharashtra Assembly in Pune. The ruling Mahayuti — Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena, the BJP and Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party — and the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi, which is a coalition of Sharad Pawar’s NCP, Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT), and the Congress, are fighting out the bitter poll battle in the state.

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Parthasarathi Biswas

Partha Sarathi Biwas is an Assistant Editor with The Indian Express with 10+ years of experience in reporting on Agriculture, Commodities and Developmental issues. He has been with The Indian Express since 2011 and earlier worked with DNA. Partha's report about Farmers Producer Companies (FPC) as well long pieces on various agricultural issues have been cited by various academic publications including those published by the Government of India. He is often invited as a visiting faculty to various schools of journalism to talk about development journalism and rural reporting. In his spare time Partha trains for marathons and has participated in multiple marathons and half marathons. ... Read More

First uploaded on: 20-11-2024 at 09:15 IST

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