In relief for a member of the transgender community from Jalgaon, the Bombay high court (HC) has permitted the candidate to contest the panchayat elections, after she said she was opting for “female as her self-perceived gender identity for her entire life”.
A single-judge bench of Justice Ravindra Ghuge, while hearing the petition of the 42-year-old candidate, was informed by advocate AP Bhandari that his client had filed the nomination form by choosing female gender for contesting the election from the ward reserved for women-general category. However, the returning officer (RO) had rejected the nomination form on December 31 on the grounds that the petitioner is a transgender and there is no reservation for the transgender category in village panchayat elections.
Bhandari further submitted that it was the first occasion in which the petitioner had opted for a ‘right to a self-perceived gender identity’ and selected the female gender for all purposes during her lifetime, and therefore, her nomination form should be considered. He assured the court that the petitioner would not switch to male gender under any circumstances anytime in future during her lifetime.
Additional government pleader SB Pulkundwar for the state government and advocate AB Kadethankar for state election commission said they would not make submissions contrary to the directions of the Supreme Court to the central and state governments to formulate various welfare schemes for transgender community members and grant legal recognition of their gender identity such as male, female or as a third gender. They submitted that the RO had, as likely to be unaware of this law, must have been in dilemma while deciding the issue of acceptance of the nomination form of the petitioner.
{{/usCountry}}Additional government pleader SB Pulkundwar for the state government and advocate AB Kadethankar for state election commission said they would not make submissions contrary to the directions of the Supreme Court to the central and state governments to formulate various welfare schemes for transgender community members and grant legal recognition of their gender identity such as male, female or as a third gender. They submitted that the RO had, as likely to be unaware of this law, must have been in dilemma while deciding the issue of acceptance of the nomination form of the petitioner.
{{/usCountry}}After hearing the submissions, the court noted that the Centre had introduced the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, and permitted a transgender person to have a right to be recognised, and a transgender is permitted to have a right to self-perceived gender identity.
The court further observed, “It is quite apparent that the RO was handicapped insofar as the knowledge of law was concerned, while deciding the fate of the nomination form of the petitioner.”
The court held that as petitioner has opted for the female gender as her self- perceived gender identity and had given an undertaking to not change it to male in her lifetime, the RO should accept the candidature, and quashed the RO’s December 31 order.
“Since the nomination form of the petitioner is otherwise complete in all respects, the same stands accepted and she is permitted to contest the election from the ward and category which she has opted for in her nomination form,” the court concluded.