Bengaluru: Over 10,000 transgenders are living in the city, but only few have registered in the electoral list, who can cast their votes.
According to an official from the chief electoral officer of Karnataka, only around 1400 transgender people have been registered in the voters list in the city, who can now cast their votes in the elections.
A senior officer from BBMP, who was a part of the team, which was handling the voters registration drive said, “During the last assembly elections, there were no more than 1000 transgender people registered for voting, as they did not have proper documents to get the voters identity card. This time, we had asked them get a letter from a registered organization working for sexual minorities, who can mention the details of the transgender. Rental agreement was also accepted to get the registration done. There’s a rise in transgender trying to register but the issue is they are not able to provide valid proof or even letter from the organizations.”
Komala, a transgender, residing in TC Palya in K R Puram, has been creating awareness among their community to get themselves registered in the voters list. While speaking to DC she said, “I have been going around telling the other people from our community to exercise their franchise by registering in the electoral list, as it would help in having a valid government identity proof and also we as a neglected community will be recognized by the government.”
She also added that she received voter identity card only this year after repeated attempts. “I had to run from pillar to post to get the identity card and the concerned officials are not sensitive about our community and do not show us the right way. There are more than 10,000 transgenders living in the city and every one wants to cast their votes like others but we have no proofs to submit. Rental agreement is the basic document which we can submit but the house owners do not make an agreement, as they claim that giving a house on rent is a big thing, so forget about agreements. The owners also hesitate to provide the agreements, as they charge high rents.”
Mallappa, state co-ordinator for sexual minorities said, “A few weeks ago, we had a meeting with the BBMP officials and have asked them to help the community to get registered in the electoral list and they too assured that the transgender community can get themselves registered by getting a letter from a registered organization working for minority stating the details of the individual.”
