Chennai’s first Dalit woman mayor at the age of 28

R Priya will be the first Dalit woman mayor in the city’s 334-year era. In the Greater Chennai Municipal Corporation, where the DMK holds a majority, she has been nominated for mayor.

On Friday, indirect elections will be held for mayors, deputy mayors in corporations, chairman in municipalities, and presidents in panchayats.

Priya, on the other hand, will be the city’s third female mayor, following Tara Cherian (Congress, 1957-1958) and Kamakshi Jayaraman (DMK, 1971-1972).

The DMK has 153 councillors in the Greater Chennai Corporation, out of a total of 200 wards. The ruling party now has 25 councillors with supporters. Priya’s election to the top office in the city on Friday is a formality because the government is holding indirect elections.

The DMK has 153 councillors in the Greater Chennai Corporation, out of a total of 200 wards. The ruling party now has 25 councillors with supporters. Priya’s election to the top office in the city on Friday is a formality because the government is holding indirect elections.

Priya, 28, was elected as a councillor from ward No. 74 in Thiru-Vi-Ka Nagar in Chennai’s Thiru-Vi-Ka Nagar in the urban local body polls held on February 19. Thiru-Vi-Ka Nagar, in Chennai’s northern outskirts, is one of the city’s least developed districts, with residents living in crowded structures with inadequate infrastructure.

Her father, R Rajan, is a DMK functionary who has been with the party since 1987. She has a M Com degree but has been closely associated with politics since her father is a DMK functionary who has been with the party since 1987. Priya became a member of the DMK at the age of eighteen. Priya is stepping into big shoes, as both the current chief minister, M K Stalin (1996-2002), and the health minister, M Subramanian (2006-2011), formerly served as mayors of Chennai.

Rajan’s father stated that the two will be role models for his daughter. “She feels like she has a big responsibility and a lot of service to do,” Rajan added. On Friday, Priya was gone doing work for her nomination.

Party members’ spouses, sisters, and daughters have been fielded since late former chief minister J Jayalalithaa introduced 50% reservation for women in local bodies. These guys continued to run the show in several instances, while the women councillors were just present as a show of support. It’s unclear how Priya will handle this situation.

M Mukesh Kumar will be the deputy mayor of Chennai, according to the party.

Prior to Priya, AIADMK’s Saidai Duraisamy (2011-2016), who had a difficult relationship with late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, was the last mayor of Chennai. There were no polls to the urban local bodies until last month, when the council’s five-year tenure expired in 2016.

The DMK’s youth have been educated to become mayors, dy mayors.

Due to their overwhelming majority, the DMK-led coalition will establish councils in all 21 municipal corporations.

Aside from Priya, a number of other well-educated young people will fill these coveted positions. There are 20 undergraduate councillors and 11 postgraduate councillors who will serve as mayors and deputy mayors. Dinesh, 42, who completed his master’s degree in Australia, will be Mayor of Tiruppur Corporation, whereas Mahalakshmi Yuvaraj, 36, who left Infosys, will be Mayor of Kanchipuram.

Not only in Chennai, but also in the neighbouring towns of Tambaram and Avadi, where the DMK has earmarked seats for the marginalised as part of its social justice platform. Tambaram’s mayor will be K Vasanthakumari, and Avadi’s first mayor will be G Udhayakumar. Eleven women from the DMK will serve as mayors, while five more will serve as deputy mayors.

In Coimbatore, a BJP stronghold that also falls within the AIADMK’s western region, the DMK’s nominee is A Kalpana, a woman from a poor family. Vetriselvan, who won from ward 92, where AIADMK strongman S P Velumani (informally known as Coimbatore chief minister) lives, would be her deputy mayor.

The DMK also gave Congress, their primary ally, one mayor, two deputy mayors, six chairmen and eleven vice chairmen of municipalities, and eight presidents and eleven vice presidents of town panchayats. Saravanan, an autorickshaw driver, was nominated as the mayor candidate in Kumbakonam by Congress. CPI (M), CPI, MDMK, and VCK all received deputy mayor positions.

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