Transgender persons across Karnataka came out in large numbers to cast their vote in the Assembly elections held on May 12, particularly in Mangaluru constituency, where 40 members from the community came to vote together.

Over 4,500 transgender persons had enrolled to vote in the Assembly elections this year. The number was a significant jump from the 2,100 who had enrolled in the state in 2013, as per a report in The New Indian Express.

In Mangaluru, members of the transgender community voted and also posed for photographs, displaying their ink-stained fingers outside the booths.

Nikil came early in the morning to cast her vote.

"We are merely doing our duty as citizens of the country,” she said.

Kajal, who voted in Udupi, also said she was there to exercise her basic right as a citizen of the country. 

"I have voted in the past as well. This time, there was a concentrated effort to get fellow members of the community to make voter ID cards and come out to vote. I hope to see a time when transgender people stand as candidates. It would be good to be in charge of the decisions that will affect us one day,” Kajal said.

"We want to raise the issues of the transgender community in politics and we want to do it ourselves. It has always been men and women candidates taking part in elections. Why not transgender persons?" she further added. 

In Bengaluru, noted transgender activist Akkai Padmashali cast her vote as a member of the community for the first time.

She took to Facebook to celebrate the event.

Main image credit: Storyinfinity