INDIA: A 26-year-old eunuch, contesting India's forthcoming general election against the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, is one among several from the marginalised community participating in next month's polls, writes Rahul Bedi in New Delhi
Mr Advani, who filed his nomination papers yesterday, is seeking re-election from Gandhinagar for the fourth time.
Another eunuch, Sanjude Nayak from the same party, is contesting the neighbouring seat of Ahmedabad against a five-times MP, Haren Pathak.
And, in northern Uttar Pradesh state, politically India's most crucial with 80 parliamentary seats, the newly formed Eunuch Front is planning on fielding at least six candidates in the elections, voting in which begins on April 20th and ends three weeks later.
"Try us now that men and women have failed you" is their catchy motto.
Eunuchs took to politics after Shabnam Mausi was elected to the Madhya Pradesh state assembly in central India five years ago and proved to be a popular and efficient legislator.
India has more than 1.5 million eunuchs, who are known locally as hijras and are easy to recognise by their hard looks and behaviour. Almost all have garishly painted faces, and through constantly chewing betel leaf their lips and mouth are a permanent slash of ochre red.
This bizarre freemasonry makes a living as beggars, prostitutes and by removing "bad luck". New houseowners, for instance, frequently employ eunuchs to dance in each room to "banish" any potential ill fortune.
This is because eunuchs have suffered the worst fate that could befall anyone and consequently do not mind accepting some more for a fee.
They also turn up uninvited at weddings and dance around the guests, ostensibly to take away any bad luck that might befall the groom and bride.
However, most people pay up willingly just to be left alone rather than suffer public discomfiture. For this reason many eunuchs are also employed by businessmen and by banks as debt-collectors.
According to social activists a majority of India's eunuchs are castrated with a razor following a ritual. Potential victims are drugged on a mixture of narcotics and alcohol a fortnight before the castration ceremony takes place. The handful who survived often succumbed to infection.