Twenty-one year old Arya Rajendran, the CPI(M) candidate who won from the Mudavanmukal ward in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, may become the new mayor of the Kerala capital. The CPI(M) district committee, had a meeting on Friday following the party’s win in the recently held civic body elections, and has recommended Arya’s name as the next mayor. The state committee is expected to make an official announcement soon and if they do accept the district committee’s recommendation, then Arya may perhaps be the youngest person in India to be appointed to the post.
Arya is currently the state president of Balasangam, a childrens' organisation affiliated to the CPI(M). She is also a state committee member of the Students Federation of India (SFI), the students' organisation of the CPI(M). Arya is currently pursuing her BSC at All Saints College in the city.
During the campaign for the local body polls in Kerala, Arya had told TNM, "Coming from a children's organisation, I would focus on upgrading the lower primary school in the ward.”
Two women candidates — OG Oleena and S Pushpalatha— were earlier projected as mayoral candidates in the recently concluded local body polls. However, while Oleena was defeated from the Kunnkuzhi ward, Pushpalath was defeated in the Nedungad ward.
The CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front had emerged victorious in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation for the second consecutive time. The front won 51 out of the 100 wards, increasing the number of seats it won 43 in 2015 to 51 in 2020. The results were announced on December 16.
Arya will be appointed to the post of mayor as per the reservation rules. In Kerala, fifty percent of seats are reserved for women in local bodies, and as per the rules, women head civic bodies alternatively. In 2015, VK Prasanth of the CPI (M) was chosen as the Mayor. Prasanth quit the post when he was elected as MLA from the Vattiyoorkkav constituency in the Assembly bye-elections held in October 2019, which is when K Sreekumar replaced Prasanth as the mayor. Therefore, as per the rules, this time, Arya will be succeeding Sreekumar as the Mayor.
Read: