Number of transgender voters meagre in Kerala; most vote under ‘male’ or ‘female’ category

Transgender activist Sisily George comes out of the polling booth after voting under the ‘female’ category.

There are around 25,000 self-declared transgender individuals in Kerala based on the transgender survey held in 2014. However, activists claim there are around 40,000 of them. But when it comes to the voters’ list, there are only 376 of them, while only 150 of them voted in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

This stark difference in numbers is mainly attributed to the attitude of society towards transgender individuals despite the awareness campaigns and their increasing presence in various walks of life. As a result, many of them refuse to come out as transgender and would rather be known as male or female.

Sandhya Basky, a paralegal volunteer and a law student from Kannur, did not notice that her gender was marked as ‘female’ until after she voted in the recent Lok Sabha polls. While she is not ashamed of being ‘transgender’, she suspects many people are. “I know a lot of people, especially transmen, who refuse to accept their transgender identity,” she said.

Sisily George, a member of the Kerala Transgender Justice Board and a paralegal volunteer, voted as ‘female’ in both the local body polls in 2020 and the Lok Sabha polls in 2024. “I had voted in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls too, but my gender was referred to as ‘third gender’ in the voters’ identity card. It is too demeaning. We prefer to be known as transgender,” Ms. George told The Hindu. She had complained to the Election Commission in 2019 to get her gender changed to either transgender or female in the voter identity card.

Ms. George said most transgender individuals did not want to be referred to as ‘third gender’ and hence chose either their sex by birth or their chosen one in the voter identity card. Complications in getting visa for West Asian countries was another reason for transgenders choosing to be referred to as male or female in official documents, she added.

Meanwhile, the meagre number in the voters’ list is likely to affect the benefits enjoyed by transgenders in the State. “The government has given us reservations and various other benefits on the claim that there are around 40,000 of us in the State. But the number of voters discredits our claim,” said Ms. Basky.