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Bombay HC allows Transgender person to contest polls as woman candidate
On Saturday, the Bombay High Court allowed a transgender person to contest as a woman candidate in the local village panchayat polls. In the present case of Anjali Guru Sanjana Jaan v State of Maharashtra, the petitioner, Anjali Guru Sanjana Jaan’s nomination was rejected by the Returning Officer on the grounds that it was exclusively reserved for women and that the petitioner is a transgender person. Furthermore, it was also stated that transgender persons did not have any reservation in the village panchayat elections. The petitioner in her writ petition, challenged this order passed by the Returning Officer.
The petitioner argued that she had a right to opt for self-perceived gender identity under section 4(2) of Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 and relied on the celebrated judgement of National Legal Services Authority v Union of India [AIR 2014 SC 1863].
The court stated that the returning officer must have been unaware of this law, “handicapped insofar this law was concerned” and must have been “in a dilemma while deciding the issue of acceptance” of her nomination.
The Court further stated that the petitioner as her self-perceived gender identity has opted for the female gender and makes a definitive declaration and recorded the statement made to the Court, that from now on in her lifetime she will not change to the male gender diven by opportunism and would continue to opt for the female gender.
The writ petition was thus allowed and the impugned order was quashed. Since the nomination form was complete in all aspects, it was decided that it would be accepted and therefore, she would be permitted to contest the election from the ward she opted for in the nomination form.
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