Transgender candidate from KP gets 536 votes

PESHAWAR: Maria, the lone transgender from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa who contested the general election as an independent candidate, secured 536 votes, which is much higher than the votes of many women candidates. Maria's real name is Alamgir who contested the general election despite hurdles and challenges. She hails from Mansehra. She obtained more votes than other transgender candidates, who were popular including Nayab Ali.

Nayab Ali, whose real name is Muhammad Arsalan, contested the general election from NA-142 Okara on the PTI-Gulalai ticket and got only 197 votes. Interestingly, many women candidates from major political parties, who contested general election got less votes than the transvestites.

Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) candidate Nargis Sameen got only 19 votes. She contested election from PK-72 Peshawar, which is the lowest number of votes polled by the female candidates.

Interesting, Ayesha Gulalai Wazir, head and founder of PTI-Gulalai obtained 138 votes. She was facing PTI chief Imran Khan in NA-53. ANP candidates Rubina Zahid, running for PK-36 Abbottabad, got 77 votes, Rukhsana Bibi for PK-37 Abbottabad got 57 votes, Bibi Shehnaz Raja for PK-38 Abbottabad got 222 votes, Farzana Shaheen for PK-40, Haripur obtained 275 votes.

Maria is president of the Shemale associations in Mansehra and Hazara division. She contested election from PK-31 Mansehra against 13 male candidates. Talking to The News, she said that losing election did not matter for her as her aim was to contest the general election.

"I faced hurdles and humiliation during the campaign and on the election day as my rival candidates tried to force me to quit the race," she alleged. On the other hand, the All Pakistan Transgender Election Network (APTEN) released post-election report, alleging that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) failed to address the concerns of transgender voters in 2018 general election. "The ECP has failed to understand the obstacles faced by the transgender voters," the report remarked.

It said that five transgender candidates from all over Pakistan contested the election, but the transgender voters faced problems. "Despite making vital inroads and claiming spaces for their voice and visibility, the transgender election observers have learned that sensitivity of polling staff and police on transgender inclusion was very poor. There was sensitivity on transgender issues at Islamabad level the provincial gender disability task force of ECP failed to establish a connection with transgender community and transgender rights organizations," it said.

The transgender voters turnout remained very low, there were only 1882 transgender voters, which include 11 in Islamabad, 11 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir , 127 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 80 in Balochistan, 338 in Sindh and 1315 in Punjab. It said that most of the votes were registered in their respective villages.