Around 1,300 eunuchs cast their votes for the first time in the lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the city on Thursday. The Election Commission of India (ECI) had provided them voter identity cards in the ‘Others’ category two years ago.
The eunuchs were residing at the Vani Vihar Hinjra slum exercised their franchise at booth number 117 (Saheed Nagar Primary School) under the supervision of the All Orissa Eunuchs’ Association. “Today is a great day for us. We got our social and democratic status by exercising our democratic right, and I hope that nobody will underestimate us since the Supreme Court has recognised us as a third gender recently,” said Mamata Gharana Welfare Trust secretary Madhuri Kinnar.Association president Pratap Sahoo, Kajal Kinnar, Malli and Golapi, among many others, were present during the polling.