The crowd appeared to be bigger than ever before as the community is coming out of the closet and being vocal about their gender rights.
On January 28, when the LGBT (lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender) community held the Queer Azadi pride march in Mumbai, traffic came to a halt as a sea of colour marched through the roads of south Mumbai. The crowd appeared to be bigger than ever before as the community is coming out of the closet and being vocal about their gender rights.
However, when it comes to participating in the democratic process, the transgender (eunuch, third gender) community appears to be the most reluctant. Only 1,645 transgenders have enrolled themselves in the voter lists of Maharashtra as against their population of 41,000 (all age groups, according to the 2011 census), says the latest figures obtained from the Election Commission of India (EC).
Ratios of male and female voters to their respective population (all age groups) in Maharashtra are 75:100 and 73:100. The same ratio for transgenders comes to 4:100. As opposed to the 91.8 lakh voters in Mumbai, the 'third gender' accounts for a minimal 381 voters, as per the statistics. The estimated transgender population in Mumbai is about 10,000. Neighbouring Thane has just 15 transgender voters out of 12.3 lakh voters. "This is abysmally low considering the fact that a dozen hijras roam around every traffic signal across Mumbai and Thane," admits a top election official.
Activists blame the Election Commission for its lack of effort in getting transgenders on the electoral rolls. "The poll body must involve the transgender community in the enrolment process. Since most hijras don't have a proper home and many of them lack Aadhaar and other ID cards, they would remain out of the EC's campaign," says Harish Iyer, a leader from the LGBT community.
Iyer also claims, "Since the right wing government has not been supportive of this community, government agencies are unlikely to go the extra mile to cover the third gender."
Community leaders also cite general disillusionment of the gender minorities towards the government as one of the main reasons for their dismal registration. "Most of us think our fate is not going to be changed even if we vote. That is why we are so reluctant," says Suhana (name changed) a hijra who collects money at a Thane traffic signal. Suhana is above 40 and has neither enrolled nor voted so far in any elections.
The activists also claim the actual population of transgenders could be much more than the official census figures. In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court in April 2014 created the "third gender" status for hijras or transgenders to bring them into the mainstream.
Earlier, they were forced to write 'male' or 'female' against their gender. The apex court had said that transgenders will be allowed admission in educational institutions and given employment on the basis that they belonged to the 'third gender' category.
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