Surat transgender voters denied voter ID cards

GNN | Nov 25, 2017, 5:57 PM IST|

SURAT: Ahead of assembly elections in Gujarat, transgender voters from Surat's Godadara area have claimed that they will not be able to cast votes as they have not been allotted voter ID cards.
The Gujarat assembly elections are scheduled to take place on December 9 and 14. The counting will be done on December 18. Surat will vote on December 9, during the first phase of polling, according to an ANI report.
Hitting out at authorities for providing no assistance whatsoever in this regard, several members of the transgender community are feeling helpless.
And the ones who have been issued voter cards have their gender wrongly stated in it.
"No one here has a Voter ID card, except me. When I received it, my name was mentioned under the female gender, I am a transgender. So, whenever I produce the voter card, I am told that they have mentioned female on it. I had to face a lot of problem to open my bank account," said Payal Kunwar.
Another distressed member of the marginalized community, Khushboo, revealed how some of them were being denied even a bank account.
"I just have an Aadhaar Card but no Voter Card. I do not even have a bank account. They turn me away whenever I go to them. I want to cast my vote too just like anyone else," said Khushboo.
A conservative estimate states that there are nearly a million transgenders in the country and only a few of them have voting rights.