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India
National Voter's Day: How Inclusive Elections Have Been For Women, Third Gender In Past 75 Yrs?
|Ahead of the upcoming elections in several states, the Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra said that the strength of the country's electorate stood at 95.1 crores, as compared to 91.2 crores during the 2019 Lok Sabha general elections,
In a televised address, Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra mentioned that the number of female electors in the country had witnessed a sharp rise of 5.1 per cent over the past three years after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. On the other hand, the number of male voters saw an increase of 3.6 per cent since 2019. While women voters increased from 43.8 crores to 46.1 crore now, men showed a rise from 47.3 crore to 49 crore, taking the strength of the country's electorate to 95.1 crore. However, the CEC did not mention any data on the inclusion of the third gender.
No Data For Transgender Persons Mentioned
Chandra mentioned that apart from men and women, 1.9 crore voters were senior citizens above 80 years, 81.4 lakh persons with disabilities, and 19.2 lakh belonged to the services, The Times of India reported. In 2019, there were 1.5 crore first-time voters, whereas the tally stood at 1.4 crore aged between 18 and 19 years who were to vote for the first time in 2019 in the Lok Sabha poll. In the current assembly polls scheduled in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur, there are nearly 25 lakh new voters. The Union government had introduced the concept of the third gender ahead of the 2014 general elections. However, not much has been done in similar lines to develop the marginalized community.
Right To Self-Perceived Identity
Time and again, Judiciary has had to step in to ensure that transgender persons get the rights without any discrimination. In 2021, the Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court intervened to allow a transgender person from a seat reserved for women while stating that she had the right to contest from self-perceived gender identity. In the 75 years of independence, we have not progressed as much as we should have to make India a more inclusive society for people with troubled backgrounds and gender identities.
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