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Arya Rajendran sets new era in politics: History is made as she becomes India's youngest mayor!

By alagu, 28 December, 2020
Kerala, Trivandrum, Local body elections, Arya Rajendran

In what would become the dawn of the new era in politics, 21-year-old Arya Rajendran has on Monday sworn-in as the Mayor of Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, becoming the youngest mayor of India. The Malabar state reigned by the CPM party has unfolded a historical milestone after the 21-year-old sophomore had assumed the office of the Mayor of Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, the largest corporation in Kerala. 

Arya Rajendran's name was proposed by the district committee of the CPM to lead the city and her name was recommended to the state committee later last week following which the B.Sc Maths student had earned nationwide attention as she was celebrated across and beyond the borders. The state committee had accepted to name her as the next Mayor of Thiruvananthapuram and history has been made on Monday. 

According to reports, Thiruvananthapuram Collector Navjot Khosa has administered the oath of office to Arya Rajendran and the event was participated by the CPM leaders and state authorities. Arya Rajendran was declared as the Mayor after she secured 54 votes out of 99 votes cast in proposing her candidacy. Following the oath, the 21-year-old youngest mayor in India had taken charge of her duties and she has been in the rains of appreciation as many leaders and celebrities are commending her for being elected as the Thiruvananthapuram Mayor. 

Arya Rajendran's first formal function as the Mayor of Thiruvananthapuram will be attending the programme organized by Balasangham, the children's outfit of the CPM, for which she has been serving as the state president. She has been pursuing B.Sc in Mathematics in All Saints' College Thiruvananthapuram and she has been raised with the Communism ideologue and her family members are staunch members of the leftist party. 

Arya Rajendran had associated with Baalasangam when she was in Class 5 and she was actively involved in the party and took part in the election campaigns even before she got the eligibility to cast her vote. Her work at a young age had inspired the younger generation and she was inducted into the Students' Federation of India (SFI), the student wing of the CPM, and besides her education, she has been very active in politics. 

In the recently held local body polls, the CPM has awarded her the ticket to contest in the Mudavanmughal ward of the Trivandrum Corporation. Amid the fierce race between the CPM, Congress, and BJP, Arya Rajendran had emerged victories after she won the election by a margin of 549 votes. She has got 2,872 votes, 549 votes more than the Congress candidate, who settled for second place. 

Overall, the Kerala ruling CPM had won 51 seats out of 100 seats in Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, followed by NDA, and Congress. Notably, this was the first time Arya Rajendran had cast her vote in the local body elections and along with delivering the democratic process, she has now been elected as the Mayor of Thiruvananthapuram. As the Thiruvananthapuram corporation was reserved for women this time, Arya won the race of mayorship after two other women had lost the election. 

Kerala's local bodies are setting a trend for the nation as half of the seats in the local bodies have been reserved for women while the top posts like Mayorship would be reserved for women in the alternate terms and the outgoing administration was led by Sreekumar, it's a turn for women to run the incoming administration and Arya has taken over the mayorship. The party has decided to appoint Arya as the Mayor of Thiruvananthapuram through her active work in the party since childhood. 

On Monday, the majority number of ward members had voted for Arya Rajendran and elected her as the Mayor of Thiruvananthapuram. She sworn-in to the office in the midst of nationwide attention and in the rain of appreciations. Speaking to a news agency, Arya said that she was actively campaigning for the party candidates even though she was not entitled to vote in the local body polls. That campaign experience and exposure helped her during the polls and added that she had been actively involved during the election campaign in the past. 

Responding on becoming the youngest mayor in India, Arya said that democracy is not about one person, it's about deciding collectively and getting decisions implemented. The party has ushered in a new era with this decision and by fielding so many young candidates, including young women candidates. According to reports, Arya's pick was a surprise from the CPM and her pick has shown the party's strategy to thank young voters who stood with them in this election. 

Must-read: From being a student to India's youngest mayor: Arya Rajendran speaks to us about her remarkable journey!

Arya said that her top priority as the Mayor would be waste management in the capital city which has been a challenging task for her predecessors. Speaking to PTI, India's youngest mayor said, "Our city is beautiful. To keep it like this, it should be free of waste. Besides a scientific waste management system, a thorough awareness is needed among people not to dump waste on the waysides". 

Speaking to us last Saturday, Arya said, "the party had emerged victorious and the victory was the result of the party's welfare schemes to the people. The people have faith in us and despite the opposition, they gave us a huge victory. With the help and support from the party, I'll carry out the responsibility of Mayor along with pursuing my degree". As Arya has unveiled the new-age politics, which would give a crucial push to women's participation in politics, many political leaders and celebrities had congratulated her on making history as she gets ready for a significant and indeed responsible assignment. 

 

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