Six candidates from the gender and minority communities are contesting the upcoming House of Representatives elections. They are candidates from the All Inclusive Samajwadi Party, whose election symbol is 'Shrivatsa'.

Numa Limbu in Morang-4, Surendra Pandey in Kathmandu-1, Pinki Rai in Okhaldhunga, Devendra Bahadur Khatri in Rupandehi-2, Purna Chandra Poudel in Kathmandu-10 and Binod Lama in Kavre-1 have filed their candidacies. Out of a total of 3,406 candidates, Pinki Rai is classified as ‘other’ apart from women and men. Rai’s citizenship is mentioned as female and male in her voter ID card. Seeing these different details, the Election Commission registered her as ‘other’.

 ‘Initially, I mentioned female when making my citizenship application, but when making my voter ID card, I made it male, and after discussion in the commission, I registered her as ‘other,’’ she said. She said that during the registration of her candidacy, she requested details for gender identity through the ward office and proceeded with the process. 

Her interest was to make citizenship application in ‘other’ gender identity. She says that she could not succeed due to legal and procedural ambiguities. "The law mentions caste and inclusion, but there is no practical access to education, health and employment. Many are still stateless, and despite being citizens, they have to live like refugees because they do not have citizenship according to their identity," she said.

She said that politics is forced to intervene at the policy and legal levels to bring about change in the bitter reality that sexual minority communities continue to face humiliation and discrimination on a daily basis. "Change in the law is possible only by reaching politics. Only after it is written in the law will there be a basis for speaking up for rights," she said. Rai said that she will raise issues not for herself but for the rights and interests of sexual and gender minorities, backward castes, religions, classes, Rautes, and women in the sex trade. 

Another candidate is Surendra Pandey. He has been an active activist for the rights of sexual and gender minorities for a long time. He is one of the first same-sex couples in Nepal to get married. He is married to his life partner Maya Gurung. Maya is a transgender woman, who is currently recognized as a man by law. Pandey is also a man.

They got married in 2074 BS according to traditional customs. They sometimes went to the ward office and sometimes to the district court to register their marriage. Surendra says, “The question of how to register a marriage between a man and a woman became the biggest obstacle.” After continuous struggle, they reached the Supreme Court.

“After the Supreme Court ordered the registration of the marriage, the district court was instructed to register the marriage, but in practice, this process was still complicated,” he said. “The court itself could not determine it clearly, which made it even more difficult. In the process, our human rights were violated.”

During this period, he was forced to think that the next generation should not have to suffer like this. It was only about a year and a half after the marriage that legal registration was possible. And he decided to fight for rights at the policy level. This is why he is now contesting the election from Kathmandu-1. Although he is a native of Kawasoti, he says that the reason he chose Kathmandu is because of the social contribution he has made here. 

He found very few people to help him in his journey to register his marriage. He sent messages to many MPs and leaders for help but did not receive a positive response. Therefore, he has now entered politics, feeling that he will reach a place where he can make laws for himself. Politics is a new field for Pandey, but he says that he is slowly developing his skills and moving forward. He is currently conducting an election campaign online. He has entered the field with a firm determination to win.

Numa Limbu (Chanchala) has entered the election field as a direct candidate from Morang-4. She is also the president of the Samajwadi Party and is an activist who entered politics representing marginalized communities. 

According to her, many representatives who have reached parliament so far have not directly understood the problems of their own communities, so the rights guaranteed in the constitution have not been implemented in practice.

Numa says, ‘Many of the things written in the constitution are still limited to paper. Inclusion will not be implemented until the voices of marginalized communities reach the parliament themselves. She believes that economic, social and policy issues should be organized, especially by prioritizing the rights of the youth. 

Limbu has also directly experienced discrimination related to citizenship. She was deprived of her rights for a long time because she was not granted citizenship. She said that she finally had to obtain female citizenship. Although it is somewhat easier to contest elections directly as a female candidate, there are many challenges, she says. She is conducting a door-to-door campaign through social media. 

Election Commission spokesperson Narayan Prasad Bhattarai said that while registering candidates directly, they will register their candidacies based on their citizenship.