An encouraging picture has emerged regarding the participation of third gender voters in the country. According to the Election Commission, third gender voters registered a record 91.28 percent turnout in the second phase of West Bengal Assembly elections. In the first phase this figure was 56.79 percent, which increased rapidly in the second phase.
Highest number of third gender voters voted in Puducherry
A total of 1,257 third gender voters in West Bengal cast their votes in two phases, including 465 voters in the first phase and 792 in the second phase. At the same time, in the recently concluded assembly elections, Puducherry recorded the highest turnout of 91.81 percent among the third gender voters. A total of 139 voters were registered in this category. Of the 7,728 third gender voters in Tamil Nadu, 60.49 per cent voted on April 23. 57.04 per cent of 277 voters in Kerala and 36.84 per cent of 343 voters in Assam exercised their franchise.
Election dates varied across these states, with Tamil Nadu voting on 23 April, while Kerala, Assam and Puducherry voting on 9 April. Voting was conducted in two phases in West Bengal on 23 and 29 April. The results of all states will be declared on May 4.
What changed compared to Lok Sabha elections?
If compared with the previous Lok Sabha elections, the picture is mixed. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the registration of third gender voters has increased to 48,194, which is 23.5 percent more than 39,075 in 2019. However, the voting percentage was only 27 percent i.e. only 13,058 people voted.
After whose efforts did we get this facility?
It is noteworthy that only after the efforts of former Chief Election Commissioner Naveen Chawla, people of third gender got the facility to register as voters in other or ‘O’ category. Now the Election Commission classifies voters as ‘male’, ‘female’ and ‘other’ (third gender).