Arjun Geetha had voted in the local body polls once under female identity but the current Lok Sabha polls is the first time Arjun cast the vote under the transgender identity.
Arjun, a State Transgender Justice Board member, cast the vote at Pushpagiri in Idukki on Friday. Though Arjun was the lone transperson to vote in Arjun’s booth, there were nine voters from the community in Idukki.
Arjun says the increase in number of transgender voters from 174 in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and 290 in the Assembly election in 2021 to 367 now is a reflection of their visibility and social acceptance. The community members also realise the importance of each vote for their collective development, Arjun says.
‘Positive move’
Arjun recalls the time members of the transgender community voted in the elections as the ‘third gender.’ The fact that the State issued voter IDs with ‘transgender’ on it instead of the male-female binary alone was a positive move, Arjun says.
Arjun says the number of transgender voters, however, does not include those whose voter ID shows their gender as male or female. A count of such voters should also be taken, Arjun feels.
Sreemayi, who cast the vote at Kattakada in Thiruvananthapuram district, also says that many trans voters who had earlier registered as male or female had voted under the trans identity this time. This had likely led to the increase in number of trans voters, thereby improving their presence and ensuring their participation in the development process.
SVEEP (Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation) awareness campaign by the authorities and arranging the first transgender model polling booth at Fort Mission Girls School in the State capital also gave confidence to more trans voters to cast their vote under their identity. Earlier, they would be apprehensive if they would experience any issues when they reached the polling booth or would be accepted, says Sreemayi.
In all constituencies
Trans voter presence was there in all Assembly constituencies in the district. Even in Kattakada where Sreemayi voted, the number of trans voters had increased from two to six. “Each election is bringing about changes. There are more trans voters participating in the poll process.”
Diya Sana, activist, says in some places there were only three or four trans voters, but when they voted together they were visibly excited about being part of the election process and voting along with everyone else, even if in a minority.
People, she said, were increasingly more accepting of them. She was also optimistic that in the near future, people from the trans community who were socio-politically and culturally active would contest in elections at least at the grassroots level and work not only for the trans community, but also wider society.
