Mohali: 'Have joined politics to serve downtrodden'

Sanjay Bumbroo

Mohali, February 10

Maniksha, who comes in the ‘other’ gender category, is one of the two such candidates contesting Assembly elections in the state this time.

A total of 1,145 candidates are fighting elections in Punjab and Maniksha is in the fray as a Samaj Adhikar Kalyan Party candidate from the Mohali constituency. The other transgender contesting the election is from Patiala (Rural).

“I joined politics because I want to serve and help people better. I will give back twice the amount of support they give me,” she said.

According to the 2011 Census, the population of transgenders in the state was 10,243 and only 507 of them are registered as voters. Transgenders in India were granted voting rights in 1994.

With folded hands, she asks people to vote for ‘balloon’, her party’s election symbol. “There is traditional respect for ‘mahants’. After all, we bring good luck and most happy occasions are incomplete without our customary visit,” said Maniksha.

She said her main motto was to serve the people and the downtrodden stratum of society. She said she was campaigning door to door and was observing the Covid-appropriate behaviour by maintaining social distance. She said only two to three persons accompany her during the campaign.

When asked how she would campaign in about 60 villages besides the Mohali city in her constituency, Maniksha said she was not new to these areas, adding that people know her and welcome her in all areas.

Maniksha said no political party did anything for her community. She said they too had the right to education and jobs, but they were not considered for any post.

A graduate from the PU, Maniksha, who was born at Mullanpur, New Chandigarh, said leaders of almost all political parties pay crores to get the ticket and later indulge in corruption to recover their money.