INDIA / TRANSGENDER VOTING

Since 1994,India’s Election Commission has been expanding efforts to register members of the transgender community as voters. In a landmark decision in 2014, the Supreme Court of India recognized the rights of transgender citizens to identify as a third gender or “other” withIndia’s Election Commission. UNDP

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:03:27
• Production Date: 25 April 2014
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME - UNDP
• Subject Topical: DISCRIMINATION; HUMAN RIGHTS; ELECTIONS; LESBIAN; GAY; BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDER; HUMAN RIGHTS
• Geographic Subject: INDIA
• MAMS Id: U140425b

Description

STORY: INDIA / TRANSGENDER VOTING
TRT: 3:27
SOURCE: UNDP
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / KANNADA / NATS

DATELINE: 16-17 April 2014, BANGALORE, KARNATAKA INDIA

Shotlist

1. Med shot, banner - General Election to Lok Sabha-2014 Postal Ballot Facilitation Center, 165, Rajajinagar, Assembly Constituency
2.Wide shot, voters standing in the queue to vote with a security personnel
3. Close up, military personnel
4.Wide shot, voters standing in the queue to vote with a security personnel
5. Med shot, women voters standing in queue outside the polling booth to vote
6. Med shot, group of four transgenders receiving their voter slips
7. Med shot, Transgenders going inside the polling booth to vote
8. Med shot, Transgenders showing her voter ID card surrounded by security personnels
9. SOUNDBITE(Kannada) Yana, Transgender voter:
“I feel proud now to be able to vote for the candidate of my choice. Whether it’s to choose a Member of Parliament, Member of Legislative Assembly or a Councillor."
10. Close up, Trangenders interacting with each other
11. Close up, Transgender showing her voter ID card
12.Med shot, Transgender showing her voter ID card
13.Close up, voter ID card
14.Close up, voter ID card
15.Med shot, Transgender
16.SOUNDBITE(English) Dilfaraz, Male Transgender & Transgender Activist, Banglaore:
“Recently from last year, lot of people got voter Id card, around if you take 100 population, around 60-70 percent for voter ID card and now they are also, that population are voting".
17. Close up, men standing in the queue outside the polling station to vote
18.Wide shot- Women standing in the queue outside a polling station to vote
19.Med shot, Namibian Delegates standing at the polling station with UNDP representatives
20.Med shot, delegates entering the polling booth.
21.Close up, delegate talking to a police personnel
22.Wide shot,delegate in a training room interacting with polling officer and other trainees
23.Med shot, delegates in profile listening
24.Close up, polling officer giving information to the delegates
25.Med shot, delegates sitting and listening to the polling officer
26.Close up, writing pad, delegate taking down information
27.Close up, banner (English and Hindi)- “Election Commission of india in collaboration with UNDP welcomes Delegates to International Visitors Programme, General Election to Lok Sabha-2014”
28.SOUNDBITE (English) Paul John Isaak, Director and CEO of the Electoral Commission of Namibia:
“There was a genuine acceptance of all, the heterosexual community on one side was really accepting the transgender society. The were not pushed into one corner. As a matter of fact they were ore active to meet the press that had been invited and also most importantly though they were at home, they were proud of who they are.”

Storyline

Since 1994, India’s Election Commission has been expanding efforts to register members of the transgender community as voters. In 2009, the commission issued instructions that transgenders can indicate their sex as “other”.

Yana, a transgender in Bangalore expresses, “I feel proud now to be able to vote for the candidate of my choice. Whether it’s to choose a Member of Parliament, Member of Legislative Assembly or a Councillor. I now have the right to participate”.

In a landmark decision in 2014, the Supreme Court recognised the rights of Transgender people to a separate or third gender identity.

Dilfaraz, a male transgender and transgender activist says, “ recently from last year, lot of people got voter ID card, around if you take 100 population, around 60-70 percent for voter ID card and now they are also, that population are voting”.

As millions go to vote in India’s national elections, a delegation from the Election Commission of Namibia was in Karnataka in the south of the country. Their aim was to understand how India is including sexual minorities in the electoral process.

The Election Commission of India and the United Nations Development Programme are facilitating the participation of delegates from 20 countries to learn from how the country manages elections.

In a debriefing session with the Election Commission of India, the CEO of Election Commission of Namibia, Paul John Isaak said, “There was a genuine acceptance of all, the heterosexual community on one side was really accepting the transgender society. They were not pushed into one corner. As a matter of fact they were ore active to meet the press that had been invited and also most importantly though they were at home, they were proud of who they are”.

In India’s 2014 general elections, 28,314 voters enrolled them elves as being of the third gender.