—Say ECP failed to include separate section for them in nomination papers
Transgender community in Lahore on Monday announced to boycott the upcoming coming elections. Transgender Neeli Rana told a private news outlet that the community took the decision because the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) did not include a separate section for them in the nomination forms. “Since our different identity is not being accepted, hence there is no use of contesting the elections,” Neeli said.
Neeli, who hails from Lahore, said that she had obtained nomination papers from NA-124, but she would not contest polls.
She expressed that the objections from his community are emerging due to the absence of separate space for them in the nomination forms. “We have not been included in the voters’ list. Therefore, we won’t contest polls,” Neeli said.
She said that three members of the community had obtained nomination papers for contesting the elections, but now they have decided to boycott. As many as 13 transgender persons had announced that they would take part in the polls from various parts of the country, including Lahore.
Out of three, two had decided to contest elections for National Assembly seats, while the 11 would vie for provincial assembly berths.
The move has come in wake of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s transgender community voicing concern over the absence of a separate gender section for the community in nomination papers last week.
TransAction Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa President Farzana Riaz criticised the ECP for not including the separate section.
“Dozens of transgender people across the country are collecting nomination papers from the ECP, but the forms do not have a separate section and are being forced to choose between male and female,” Farzana had said.
