Pune Assembly Elections: Shikhandi Trust, A Transgender Group, Boycotts Polls – Here’s Why | Instagram/shikhandi_dhol_tasha_pathak
Shikhandi Trust, a transgender group in Pune, has boycotted the Maharashtra Assembly elections in protest against the lack of representation of their demands.
Manasi Goilkar, founder, Shikhandi Trust, said, “We are boycotting the elections as the transgender community is still facing legal and social challenges. Our existence hardly matters to these politicians. Has any political party done anything for us in all these years? Our needs and demands were not included in the m.festos of any political party.”
“We are fighting for our rights and we want reservations so that we can also come forth in the mainstream. We want to empower our community, to help them take up jobs in different sectors and come out of the taboo that transgenders ask for money at traffic signals,” she added.
Goilkar noted that in the entire state, only the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) has nominated a transgender candidate. Shameebha Patil is the only transgender candidate who is contesting from the Raver constituency in the Jalgaon district.
In 2011, the Election Commission of India (ECI) decided to allow transgender individuals to vote in elections as a separate group. Since then the community has been exercising their right to vote as ‘others’ in the category. Despite sensitising citizens about the third gender, the community still does not feel included.
Meanwhile, Pune district has a total of 805 transgender voters. However, the count may well be over 10,000 as many have not registered their names.
