lok-sabha-elections

Updated: Apr 04, 2019 09:52 IST

A transgender person Naresh Jayshwal has decided to contest Lok Sabha elections as an independent candidate in Gujarat and filed her nomination papers on Wednesday.

The 28-year-old transgender person will contest from Ahmedabad East, where the Congress candidate is Gita Patel, a close aide of Patidar leader Hardik Patel. The Bharatiya Janata Party has not announced its candidate from this constituency, which is currently represented by actor Paresh Rawal.

Jayshwal , a resident of Rakhiyal in the walled city area, is not fazed by her opponents. “I am still contesting to send across the message that it is now high time we bring about a change. The first and foremost criterion for electing a candidate should be the individual and not the party.”

“I do not understand the buzz around the BJP and the Congress. Both parties are hardly concerned about the problems of people,” she added.

Sitting MP, Rawal, a popular Bollywood actor, has expressed his unwillingness to contest this time. The BJP, which in recent elections have fielded a Brahmin candidate from this urban seat, has been weighing its options after the Congress fielded a Patidar candidate.

This will be the second electoral battle for Naresh. She had contested in 2015 Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation elections and lost. “With each election, I am pushing the envelope,” she said.

Last month, Aam Admi Party fielded Bhawani Ma, a transwoman associated with the recently-formed Kinnar Akhara, to contest from Prayagraj. Tamanna Simhadri, another transwoman, will contest as an independent candidate from Manglagiri, Andhra Pradesh, against state legislator Nara Lokesh.

This is the first general elections since the Supreme Court passed the Nalsa versus Union of India judgement, which granted equal rights to transgender persons.