The number of transgender voters has increased in Gujarat since the last state assembly elections. The prevailing voters of their community were seen in Vadodara. The voting in the polling booths will take place in two phases – December 1 and December 5.
About 702 transgenders cast their votes in the last election, according to the Election Commission of India’s data. In the next month’s election, 223 of the most eminent transgenders registered, reside in Vadodara itself. Vadodara has been an eloquent city in Gujarat and in India for advocating LGBTQI+ rights. Dang district is accounted for the lowest number of transgender voters.
A sheer number of 4,90,89,765 voters are registered within the state, including 1,417 transgender voters and 53,36,610 male voters, as per the ECI data. Approximately, four lakh people with disabilities have been registered. There are 211 transgender voters in Ahmedabad, and 159 in Surat. Anand has 130 transgender voters registered; Kheda has 87, and Bharuch has 71. Gandhinagar has 49 transgender voters registered; Mehsana has 43, Bhavnagar has 40, Navsari has 38, Rajkot has 34, and Sabarkatha has 32.
In Mahisagar and Banaskantha districts, there are 16 transgender voters registered. In Jamnagar and Valsad, there are 15 transgender voters; in Dwarka, 13, in Kutch, 12, in Gir Somnath and Porbandar, 11, in Chhota Udaipur, 5, in Tapi and Botad, 4, in Morbi, and three in Narmada.
The transgender community exercises the right to vote to uplift their social status and be included in the basic necessities schemes or plans. In 2014, the committee acknowledged transgenders as a different category of sex. In 2019, Neeraj Kumar Jayswal, also known as Raju Mataji became the first transgender to register herself for the independent Lok Sabha seat from the Ahmedabad-East seat.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar stated that there has been a 100 per cent increment in the number of transgender voters since the last election. Some local residents also work as ECI ambassadors to promote the right to vote.
