Chennai, Mar 04, 2022: The 28-year-old R Priya of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) was sworn in as the youngest and first-ever Dalit mayor of Chennai on Friday. She is also the third woman to hold this post in Chennai’s history, after Tara Cherian & Kamakshi Jayaraman.On Thursday, the DMK party nominated Priya as its Mayor candidate for the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) as it enjoys a majority. A mayor was sworn into the GCC for the first time after a hiatus of 11 years. With this, the GCC got its youngest and first-ever Dalit woman mayor.
The oath of office was administered by GCC commissioner Gagandeep Singh Bedi, reported news agency ANI. Priya was elected as a councillor of ward 74 Mangalapuram in the recently-concluded civic body polls.
R Priya, from Thiru Vi Ka Nagar in North Chennai, won the TN urban local body elections from ward number 74. The DMK won a majority in all the 21 municipal corporations, including the Greater Chennai Corporation, and came out victorious in most of the 138 municipalities and 490 town panchayats.
Tamil Nadu | Greater Chennai Corporation gets its youngest and first-ever Dalit woman mayor, as DMK’s R Priya takes the oath of office in Chennai. The 29-year-old is Chennai’s third woman mayor. pic.twitter.com/erfAt365h0
— ANI (@ANI) March 4, 2022
DMK swept the recently-concluded civic polls in Tamil Nadu and won 952 wards in corporations, 2,360 in municipalities and 4,389 in town panchayats. Surprisingly, this includes local bodies in home turfs of AIADMK leaders, including former Chief Ministers K Palaniswami (Edappadi, Salem district) and O Panneerselvam (Periyakulam, Theni district).
Courtesy:India Today