There are more transgender voters than ever in Karnataka — what are their demands?

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The Chief Election Commissioner of India, Rajiv Kumar, has said that 41,312 transgender persons have registered to vote in the upcoming Assembly elections in Karnataka — one of the highest numbers of trans voters reported by a state. In a press conference announcing elections in the state on March 29, Rajiv Kumar claimed that out of the Election Commission of India (ECI)’s estimate of 42,756 transgender persons eligible to vote in Karnataka, 41,312 have registered with the ECI. While the number of trans voters announced by him is much higher than the number reported on the ECI website on March 2, transgender activists in the state say that even the new estimate comprises only a fraction of the state’s trans population, and that many trans persons have been left out of the electoral rolls.

According to data published on the ECI’s website on March 2 this year, there were 4,468 transgender voters in the state of Karnataka under the ‘third gender’ category. With the EC pegging the number at 41,312 as of March 29, they are claiming an increase of almost 825% in the enrollment in less than a month. As of March 2, Karnataka had the fourth highest number of trans voters in the country, after Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra. In the 2019 electoral roll (India General Elections), the state had 4,718 transgender voters; in 2018 (Karnataka Assembly Elections), the number stood at 4,552.

It’s important to note, however, that this data reflects only those transgender persons who have an ID card that identifies them as trans — denoted as ‘third gender’ by the ECI — and not as male or female. As per the historic NALSA v. Union of India judgement of 2014, and later the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, trans persons can self identify as male, female, or transgender for official documentation. Several states including Karnataka have their own policies for transgender persons to avail ID cards and welfare benefits. There is no clear data on what percentage of trans persons have a ‘transgender’ ID, versus how many have a male or female ID.

Trans activists in Karnataka have meanwhile said that the EC’s numbers with respect to the total population of transgender persons eligible to vote in the state is far off the mark. The Times of India reported that according to Akkai Padmashali, the founder of Ondede — an organisation that works for gender minorities in Karnataka and is part of a larger network of trans rights organisations in the state — there are over two lakh transgender persons in the state. Akkai is a member of the Congress party, and was the face of trans welfare under the previous Congress government.

Another activist, Manjamma Jogathi, who was conferred the Padma Shri award by the government last year, and who has been roped in by the Election Commission as a ‘poll icon’/‘model voter’ to encourage voter participation, also agreed there was a discrepancy in the numbers. Manjamma told The Times of India that the ECI has not fully reached out to transgender communities in the state, and that bureaucratic troubles with getting names changed on certificates are major hindrances to obtaining a voter ID. She emphasised that the government should simplify the process of obtaining a voter ID to make it easier for transgender people to enrol.

According to the Deccan Herald, the state government had promised to enumerate the number of transgender residents in Karnataka. The details of this survey are not yet available.

What happened to the transgender policy?

Karnataka put into place a policy for transgender persons in 2017, on the back of the NALSA judgement of 2014. According to the South Asian Translaw Database of the Centre for Policy and Research, “The policy adopts a three-step approach – (a) enforcement of constitutional guarantees of equal access, non-discrimination, and dignity, (b) identification of responsible State institutions and departments, and (c) defining accountability mechanisms. In line with this, the policy proposes empowerment, enabling, remedial, and sustainability measures.”

The policy gives transgender persons the right to self-identify as male, female, or transgender, and prohibits discrimination in education, employment, housing, and public accommodation. It also assures safe housing for transgender children, and old age homes for transgender seniors. Further, it promises scholarships and livelihood opportunities for transgender persons in the state. The policy, however, has been criticised for not including trans communities’ demands for reservation in education and employment. Later in July 2021, the government announced a 1% reservation for transgender persons in government jobs.

In 2021, The News Minute reported that the transgender policy has still not been implemented properly in the state. Protesting trans persons had alleged that the state has not put in place the mechanisms to implement the policy as promised.

Speaking about the current status of the policy, Uma, executive director of Jeeva, a Bengaluru-based LGBTQIA+ advocacy group, said, "The Women and Child Development Department, which serves as the nodal agency for 'implementation' of policies, has shown no progress in this regard in the last six years. We demand that the responsibility to implement the policy be transferred to the Social Welfare Department and that a budget be allocated for this purpose."

Uma explained that the Women and Child Development Department is responsible for implementing several schemes, leading to a shortage of human resources to oversee the implementation of policies specifically for transgender individuals. She also highlighted that no separate budget has been allocated to implement the department’s policies focused on trans persons.

According to Uma, since 2017 there has also been a lack of progress in creating awareness and implementing the transgender policy. Furthermore, there has been a frequent change of Principal Secretaries in the state government in the last two years, hindering budget allocation and implementation of policies.

Transgender inclusion in poll activities

According to The Hindu, only 9.8% of the registered trans voters had exercised their franchise during the 2018 Assembly election. The turnout was only slightly higher – at 11.49% – for the 2019 General Elections. The appointment of Manjamma Jogathi as a poll icon is part of the effort to encourage voter turnout among transgender communities in Karnataka. 

In another initiative to include trans persons in the election process, the Election Commission recently roped in some trans artists to give its office a makeover as part of the Aravani Art Project.

Note: Third gender’ is a derogatory term that implies there is a ‘first gender’ and ‘second gender’ — thereby ‘ranking’ people on the basis of their gender. It is also wrong to use ‘transgender(s)’ as a noun, since the word is an adjective. Depending on the context, transgender persons, trans persons, trans women, trans men, etc., can be used instead. Refer to the glossary of LGBTQIA+ terms developed by The News Minute, Queer Chennai Chronicles, Orinam, and individual contributors for more details.

This article was originally published on NWMI and can be viewed here.