Transgender persons vote in erstwhile Karimnagar

Owing to the stigma over being treated as second grade citizens by many, transgender persons earlier would not come forward to vote or even enroll their names in the electoral rolls.

Karimnagar: Transgender persons, who usually stay away from the polling process, exercised their votes in the Lok Sabha elections held in erstwhile Karimnagar district on Monday.

Owing to the stigma over being treated as second grade citizens by many, transgender persons earlier would not come forward to vote or even enroll their names in the electoral rolls. In order to involve them in the polling process, the Election Commission had taken special initiatives. Besides arranging a separate column in the electoral rolls, awareness programmes were also organized to educate them about the importance of their votes. As a result, 102 transgender persons enrolled their names in Karimnagar parliament constituency, while 103 registered in Peddapalli.

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While examining the polling process, Karimnagar Collector Pamela Satpathy met a few of the transgender persons at the Subashnagar Government High School polling station, and asked them to motivate other transgender persons to vote.