Thiruvananthapuram: CPM’s VK Prashant sworn in as mayor

Thiruvananthapuram: The city corporation council on Wednesday elected the LDF nominee and Kazhakoottam ward councillor V. K. Prasanth as the 44th Mayor of the state capital. Vazhuthacaud ward councillor Rakhi Ravikumar was elected the deputy mayor. Mr Prasanth (CPM) won 42 votes.

In the 100-member council, the LDF, BJP and UDF have 42, 34 and 21 members, respectively. Ninety-eight members participated in the mayor election and 99 members in the deputy mayor poll.

Collector Biju Prabhakar, who is the district electoral officer, nullified the vote of Poonkulam councillor V. Sathyan for not signing the ballot paper.

The UDF and the BJP fielded their nominees for the top post but they were eliminated. Sreekaryam ward councillor N.S. Lathakumari, independent, abstained from voting.

UDF councillor V.R. Sini of Akkulam ward was denied the chance of taking part in the mayor election for turning up late. Ms Sini, who was attacked by a stray dog on Wednesday morning, could reach the council only by 11.30 a.m. However, the collector denied her the chance to vote and she staged a stand-up protest inside the council hall.

Former Opposition leader Johnson Joseph and Bheemapally east councillor Sajeena Teacher were fielded for the mayor and deputy mayor post respectively. However, Johnson Joseph was eliminated in the first round.

LDF nominee M. Pradeep was elected chairman of Attingal Municipality while R.S. Rekha of LDF was declared the vice-chairperson. In the 31- member municipal council, the LDF has 22 members, and the UDF and BJP five and four members respectively.

Mayor wants office to be people-friendly
V. K. Prashanth, the youngest ever mayor of Thiruvananthapuram City Corporation who was sworn in on Wednesday, dreams of making corporation office more people friendly. The 34-year-old lawyer is a member of CPI (M) Kazhakoottam area committee and DYFI district secretariat. He secured the highest majority of a candidate in this local elections as he defeated BJP’s A. P.S. Nair by 3,722 votes.

“Being the mayor of a corporation of 100 divisions, it’s an enormous challenge. I was contesting the corporation elections for the first time. I have been in active politics since 1995,” says Mr Prasanth.

“My prime objective is to make the civic body corruption-free. It should be a concerted effort, and all the councillors should work as a single unit to bring change,” he says.

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