Arya Rajendran Becomes Youngest Mayor At Age Of 21

Kerala is going to set a record as it's capital Thiruvananthapuram is going to have a mayor who is a college student and is just 21-years-old. Arya Rajendra, 21, who recently contested the civic polls, has been officially proposed as next Mayor of state capital Thiruvananthapuram, by her party, CPI(M).

Arya is pursuing bachelor's in Science and is in the second year. She is studying at All Saints college and had won from the Mudavanmughal ward of the city corporation, bagging 2,872 votes, 549 more than the rival Congress candidate.

A day earlier, Arya walked through the ward where she had just won the local body polls from – Mudavanmugal in Thiruvananthapuram, a seat which was reserved for women in 2020 local body elections by the Election Commission. Men, women and little children waited outside their houses to receive Arya after she registered victory in the polls.

The news of a 21-year-old being the Mayor designate has received much appreciation from across the spectrum, including Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who tweeted that it ‘time for a representative of the 51% of India's population that's under-25 to lead.’

Arya’s father is an electrician and mother a LIC agent. She also has a brother. All members in the family are strong CPI(M) supporters. She is the state president of Balasangam, the children's wing of the Left Party, and is also an activist of the Students Federation of India (SFI). Not only this, but Arya is also the party's youngest candidate this time.

The Guinness world record for the youngest Mayor is now held by Michael Sessions, who became Mayor of Hillsdale in the USA at the age of 18 years in 2005. In India, Suman Koli who became the Mayor of Bharatpur in Rajasthan at 21 years in 2009 is one of the youngest.