West Bengal polls: In a first, two transgenders to contest in the assembly elections

Two transgenders have made ripples in political circles by submitting their candidature for two high profile seats in Kolkata—Bhawanipur and Jadavpur—for the upcoming state election. Incidentally, Bhawanipur is a seat from which the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is contesting. 

Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) has fielded Bobby Haldar from the Bhawanipur constituency and Shankari Mondal from the Jadavpur constituency. While Halder is a resident of Joynagar, South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, Mondal is a resident of Baruipur.

The two contesting candidates, Haldar and Mondal, feel that this move will bring the plight of the entire transgender community in the limelight . This is the first time that a transgender is contesting the assembly polls in the state. Earlier, they had contested the municipal body polls.

Meanwhile, the transgender community of Kolkata welcomed the move.

“We live in a state where the transgender community has never been supported by any mainstream political party. We have been recognised by the Supreme Court as the third gender, but political parties shy away from us. While the state government was quick in establishing a transgender board, the ruling party did not field a single transgender candidate,” said Ranjita Sinha, transgender activist, adding, “The ruling party fielded many actors and sportsperson but did not think of giving a transgender a chance to contest polls. We welcome this move and thank the LJP party for recognising transgenders.”