TrivandrumLife>> The newly formed council, led by Left Democratic Front, has elected 21-year-old Arya Rajendran as the 44th mayor of Thiruvananthapuram Corporation. By securing 54 votes, including three votes of independent councillors, Arya scripted history by becoming the youngest mayor in the country.
Arya, who represented Mudanvanmugal ward, has been functioning as state president of Balasangham, the children’s wing of CPM, when CPM assigned her for the local body election. After the failure of mayor candidates Pushpalatha and Oleena, LDF decided to choose between senior councillor Jameela Sreedharan and youngster Arya. The huge popularity gained by V K Prasanth MLA during his stint as mayor helped to turn things in favour of Arya.
Voting for the post of mayor was held at around 11 am on Monday. Collector Navjyot Khosa presided over the process. LDF nominated Arya while UDF and NDA recommended the names of Mary Pushpam and Simi Jyothish respectively for the post of Mayor, which was reserved for women this time.
Of the total 100 councillors, 99 attended voting. Congress councillor C Omana, representing Mulloor ward, was absent as she was on quarantine. Another councillor Jayachandran Nair, who recovered from Covid 19 recently, was the last person to cast his vote. Of the total votes polled, 54 voted for Arya, 35 for Simi and 9 for Mary. One vote turned invalid after the councillor forgot to sign it.
Following the counting, the collector administered the oath to the new Mayor who took an affirmative oath. Senior leaders and former mayors K Chandrika, K Sreekumar, Jayan Babu, V K Prasanth, among others, attended the function.
Pattom councillor P K Raju was selected as deputy mayor in the election held in the afternoon.
