Eunuch's election to mayoral post nullified on gender basis

Kamla Bua, a eunuch, had won the Sagar mayoral polls in 2009 by a handsome margin of over 43,000 votes from the seat reserved for SC category women.

Her nearest rival challenged the verdict in the district court in 2011 saying that Kamla Bua was a eunuch and therefore, he cannot contest polls from a seat reserved for women.

After hearing arguments from both sides, the court nullified the election of Kamla Bua on the ground that being a eunuch he had failed to prove that he is a woman and secondly, he also failed to prove that he belonged to the scheduled caste category.

The court also rejected the argument that the issue should have been settled at the time of scrutiny of the nomination papers.

"Though the court has nullified Kamla's election, it failed to address the basic issue as to what category these persons belong to and from where they can contest elections --seats reserved for men or for women," Prof Ayub Khan from Government Maharani Laxmi Bai College of Excellence, Gwalior, who has deeply studied the subject, told PTI.

Khan, whose book "Hijdas in Politics or Politics in Hijdas" (under publication) says the question is significant in view of the fact that people have given a decisive mandate to a eunuch to run the affairs of a municipal body and thus, it it should be honoured in a democracy more than anything else. MORE