Nomination of transpersons to contest from women’s wards accepted

Two transgender candidates have qualified to contest in the upcoming local body polls from divisions reserved for women, a first in the State.

The candidatures of Amaya Prasad and Arunima M. Kurup, fielded by the United Democratic Front (UDF) in Thiruvananthapuram and Alappuzha respectively, were approved by the respective returning officers on Saturday (November 22, 2025), thus paving the way for them to contest the civic polls.

While Ms. Prasad will contest from the Pothencode division of the Thiruvananthapuram district panchayat, Ms. Kurup will seek popular mandate from the Vayalar division of the Alappuzha district panchayat.

Ms. Prasad’s candidature had raised some initial objections as her gender was marked as ‘transgender’ in the elector’s photo identity card issued by the Election Commission. Ms. Prasad, a male by birth, had later changed her gender to female after undergoing a sex reassignment surgery. She had complained that her application to update her gender to female was pending.

However, the returning officer accepted her contentions and approved her nomination on the day.

“There were no such hassles for my candidature from the division reserved for women as my gender was marked as female in all relevant records,” said Ms. Kurup.

Incidentally, the State Election Commission had issued an advisory to the returning officer of Thiruvananthapuram district on Saturday, urging the official to decide on the case after considering the provisions of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, which prescribed that transgender persons had the right to decide on their gender. The Commission also pointed out that the gender of Ms. Amaya could be considered as ‘woman’ if the candidate produced relevant documents, including the certificate of identity issued by the District Magistrate, which identified her as a woman.