Chandramukhi Muvvala, a transwoman who is contesting the December 7 Assembly polls in Telangana, has been reported missing in Hyderabad since Tuesday morning, The News Minute reported. The police have filed a First Information Report based on a missing person complaint.
Muvvala is contesting on a Bahujan Left Front ticket from Goshamahal constituency in Hyderabad. She is up against senior Congress leader Mukhesh Goud and the Bharatiya Janata Party’s T Raja Singh. She is the only transgender candidate in the fray.
The police said Muvvala was reported missing from her home in Banjara Hills. She got a call on her mobile phone at 8.17 am on Tuesday when she was somewhere in Yaramanzil Colony. Her phone has been switched off since, the police said.
Her mother, Anitha Muvvala, told The News Minute that she last spoke to her daughter between 8 pm and 9 pm on Monday. “We talked about how the campaign was going and she told me she was happy with the way things were progressing,” Anitha Muvvala said.
The police complaint filed by Muvvala’s supporters said they feared she had been abducted, PTI reported. The Telangana Hijra Trans Samiti, an association of transgender people, has condemned the lack of safety measures for women and transgender candidates “which acts as a strong force that dissuades transgender persons and women from joining politics”. The group said in a press statement that Muvvala had started campaigning just a day before she went missing.
Police produce ‘missing’ Gajwel candidate before court
A candidate in Gajwel constituency who was reported missing on November 22 was produced before the Hyderabad High Court on Tuesday, PTI reported.
Samajwadi Forward Bloc National President L Muralidhar Rao had filed a petition in the court alleging his party’s candidate K Dinesh Chakravarty’s whereabouts were not known since he had filed his nomination papers.
Chakravarty told the court he had neither gone missing nor been abducted. He said he had voluntarily withdrawn his nomination and his party was aware of this. The confusion about his whereabouts, he added, was due to a “communication gap”.
Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is seeking re-election from Gajwel constituency.
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