When Sneha Kale filed her nomination as a candidate for India’s general election this week, she was with a lone supporter - a stark contrast to the cheering crowds and camera crews that usually accompany politicians in the world’s biggest democracy.

The transgender 27-year-old knows she is outgunned in the campaign for election to the national parliament.

But she resolved to stand anyway, buoyed by a determination to stick up for the marginalized people that have offered their support, and a growing appetite among her community for participation in politics.

“I have the support of the weak and the marginalized,” said Kale, who is standing as an independent candidate, as she stuck fresh passport photos onto her application form.

“I am pitted against strong candidates. They come from political families. But I have a connect with my community and those on living on the margins like sex workers, bar dancers and widows of farmers,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Read more via Reuters