Over 48,000 transgender people eligible to vote in Lok Sabha elections

More than 48,000 transgender people are eligible to vote in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

New Delhi:

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar today said over 48,000 transgender people are eligible to vote in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Addressing a press conference announcing the schedule for the 18th Lok Sabha elections, Mr. Kumar said that as per the latest electoral roll, there are 970 million registered voters.

“Out of 970 million voters, there are 48,000 transgender voters,” Mr Kumar said.

The number of transgender voters in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls was 39,075, with Uttar Pradesh having the highest number (7,797), followed by Tamil Nadu (5,793) and Karnataka (4,826). States and union territories without transgender voters include Arunachal Pradesh, Daman and Diu, Goa, Lakshadweep, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Sikkim.

The Election Commission said that in order to fulfill its mission of “leaving no voter behind”, necessary efforts have been taken to ensure that all sectors of society participate in the electoral process.

“Including transgender people in the electoral roll and motivating their participation in the electoral process is a huge challenge for the Election Commission. Many steps have been taken to create awareness about transgender people, leading to an increase in the number of third gender voters,” poll team wrote a report on the 2019 election.

Voting for the 543 seats in the Lok Sabha will be held in seven phases. Voting for 102 seats in the first phase will begin on April 19, and counting will take place on June 4.

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