Tamil Nadu: 28-Year-Old Priya Rajan To Be First Woman Mayor Of Chennai Since 1971

The DMK has also announced Mahesh Kumar as the Deputy Mayor of Chennai

Priya Rajan | Credit: Special Arrangements

Chennai: DMK has announced that 28-year-old Priya Rajan will be the new Mayor of Chennai. Priya, a graduate, will be the first Dalit woman mayor of Chennai.

Priya is the granddaughter of former MLA Chengai Sivam. After Friday's indirect polling, Priya will be officially elected as the third woman mayor of Chennai after Tara Cherian in 1958 and Kamakshi Jayaraman in 1971.

The DMK has also announced Mahesh Kumar as the Deputy Mayor of Chennai. According to a press release issued by the party, overall 20 names (nine men and 11 women) have been announced for mayor posts and 15 names (10 men and five women) have been announced for deputy mayor posts. 

Among all the representatives to the top posts of the civic body, 20 have completed undergraduate studies while 11 representatives have completed their post-graduate degrees.

The other women mayors announced by the DMK include Indirani from Madurai, Kalpana from Coimbatore, Nagarathinam from Erode, Sujatha Anathakumar from Vellore, Sundari from Cuddalore, Kavitha Ganesan from Karur, Elamathi from Dindigul, Sangeetha Inbam from Sivakasi, Vasanthakumari from Tambaram and Mahalakshmi Yuvaraj from Kanchipuram.

The mayors of the remaining districts are M Anbazhagan (Tiruchy), Saravanan (Thirunelveli), A Ramachandran (Salem), N Dinesh Kumar (Tirupur),  Ramanathan (Thanjavur), Tamilarasan (Thamizhagan), Sathya (Hosur), MP Jegan (Thoothukudi), Mahesh (Nagercoil), and G Udhayakumar (Avadi).