Eunuch in race for mayor's post

Gulshan Bindu, a member of the third gender, has been fielded by Samajwadi Party (SP) for the Mayor's post in Faizabad-Ayodhya municipal corporation in Uttar Pradesh.

The elections to the local bodies in UP would begin next month. The SP on Sunday released its first list of seven candidates for the mayoral posts.

Gulshan had earlier contested the elections for the post of chairperson of Faizabad municipality but had lost by 200 votes. This year the seat was merged with Ayodhya and was made a municipal corporation.

She had also contested in the 2012 assembly elections from Faizabad and had secured over 21,000 votes.

Bindu expressed confidence that she would receive support of the electorate. ''I am sure the people will support me...we eunuchs have the blessings of Lord Rama,'' she said.

Earlier a eunuch Asha Devi had emerged victorious in the mayoral contest from Gorakhpur in the year 2000. She had defeated her nearest rival by a margin of 60,000 votes. She passed away in 2003.

Political analysts said that the electorate often preferred eunuchs over others as they felt that the eunuchs worked in the interests of the common people.

''Mainstream political parties seldom give tickets to eunuchs....they often contest as independents...their victory is also reflective of erosion of trust in the mainstream political parties,'' said Prof. Dinesh Kumar, a former faculty at University of Lucknow.

It remains to be seen if the other parties also give tickets to eunuchs in the forthcoming local body polls.