Sixteen transgenders on voter list for MBMC polls

Sixteen members from the transgender community in the twin-city will be lining up outside the polling booths to exercise their voting rights as third gender for the upcoming elections to the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC).

The election commission had taken a landmark step by making it possible for members of the third gender category to enlist themselves in a separate column.

The authorities have officially released the panel wise draft electoral roll of the summary revision with reference to 5, June 2017 as the qualifying date for incorporating new names to the electoral roll, ahead of the MBMC polls which are expected to be held in the first week of August-2017.

The draft roll has also been uploaded on MBMC’s website. While citizens will be able to register their suggestion and objections till 4, July, the final electoral roll will be published on 8, July after necessary corrections and rectifications, if any.

As per the preliminary list 70,331 new voters have enrolled themselves to get registered in the electoral taking up the approximate electoral strength to 6,02,231.

The electoral strength during the 2012 civic polls was 5,31,900. Out of the total electorate men comprise-3,26,548 and women2,75,000 and 16 third gender voters. Interestingly females have outnumbered males as new entrants on the updated electoral roll. While 32,826 men enrolled themselves as new voters, the number of new entrants in the women’s category stands at 37,471.

Out of the 51,000 new applications received in the final phase of enrolment, nearly 28,000 were acknowledged on the last two days raising serious doubts on their authenticity. However taking a serious note of objections raised by local political parties as many as 7,948 fresh applications which were supported by bogus documents were rejected after scrutiny.