CUTTACK: If irregularities in preparation of electoral rolls for the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) elections was not enough, the civic body has landed itself in more trouble by announcing that none of the eligible transgenders have voted in the ULB polls. Contradicting the CMC claim, transgender corporator candidate Tanushree Behera said she and other members of her community have exercised their franchise.
After the polling ended, the CMC election officials submitted a detailed report stating that no transgender voter turned up for voting. Behera said that the polling reports have also been goofed up like the voters list as she and her supporters voted at the booth no 275 set up on the premises of Ravenshaw University.
Behera who is contesting as an independent candidate for corporator post of Ward 38 said, “they (election officials) might have either marked us as male or female despite our voter IDs mentioning third gender status.”
According to reports, there are 131 transgender voters in the city. Sital Bastia, a transgender who had contested as an independent MLA candidate from Barabati-Cuttack constituency in the last general election, said she voted at booth no 275 on Thursday. She said by not recognising their votes, there is an attempt to dislodge them from the mainstream.Additional District Magistrate-cum-CMC Election Officer Bijay Kumar Khandayatray said he would look into the matter.