High court gave permission to Transgender can now contest elections in women's category too, given right to gender identity

An Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court has allowed a transgender person to contest Gram Panchayat elections in the women's category. The court also said in its judgment that such people have the right to gender identity. A single bench of Justice Ravindra Ghug ruled on the petition filed on January 2. It may be mentioned here that this application was made by Anjali Guru and Sanjana Jaan.

The petition challenged the Returning Officer's decision of 31 December 2020. The Returning Officer (Transgender) for Gram Panchayat elections in Jalgaon district canceled the applicant's form. In the candidature, the applicant selected the female category in the gender and nominated women of the general category to contest from the reserved ward.

However, the candidature papers were rejected as the applicant was transgender and the existing Gram Panchayat election form does not provide for transgender category. Petitioner's Advocate A.P. Bhandari informed the court that his client has always opted for female (female category) for all purposes and will never fall into male category in future.

The court said in its judgment, "In the present case, the petitioner has chosen a woman for her gender identity and has also given a statement to stay in this category for life." Motivated by opportunism, he will not enter the male gender category and will continue to choose the female gender in the future, whether or not it is reserved for transgender people in public life. ”