According to the Election Department’s numbers, the number of transgender voters in Rajasthan has nearly tripled in 5 years, but the reality is quite the opposite. Thousands of transgender individuals have disappeared from the list.
According to the Rajasthan Election Department’s 2018 report, the number of transgender voters in the state was 228 at that time, which has now increased to 606 in 2023. As per the 2011 census, the state had 16,517 transgender individuals. Among them, 2,012 were aged 0 to 6 years. Broadly, a transgender individual who was one year old in 2011 should have turned 18 in 2023. This means that at least 2,000 new transgender voters’ names should have been on the voter list. However, the actual number is only 606.
There seems to be some discrepancy in the census:
If we consider the 2011 census as a basis, there should be more than 16,517 transgender individuals in the state at this time. Among such a significant number, having only 606 transgender voters shows that there might be a significant error in the census. The extent of this error is a subject of investigation. Even if we were to exclude the 2,012 transgender individuals from the 2011 census who were aged 0 to 6 years, we still cannot deny the existence of 14,505 transgender individuals. The question remains, where did over 14,000 of them go?
Lack of awareness in society:
Discussing this issue, Pushpa Mai, a member of the Rajasthan Transgender Welfare, explains, “To vote as a transgender, you first need to obtain a transgender ID. Only after that, your name is registered as a third gender in government documents. Unfortunately, there is still a lack of awareness in society regarding this gender. The government also doesn’t actively educate people in this regard. This results in a situation where despite a significant number of transgender individuals, only 606 have registered themselves as the third gender.”
Failure of the Election Department:
Approximately 2 to 3 months before the elections, the Election Commission runs various campaigns to raise awareness among the public about voting. If we evaluate these campaigns from the perspective of transgender individuals, we could categorize them as unsuccessful. In other words, we can say that the Election Department has proven to be ineffective in educating transgender individuals about voting as the third gender. Due to a lack of awareness, many transgender individuals vote by categorizing themselves as either male or female. Monu, a transgender individual (24), mentioned that she did not know that people like her could obtain a specific ID card.
