Chairpersons take charge in municipalities in the Nilgiris

Fourteen of the 15 urban civic bodies in the Nilgiris will be headed by women

L. Sheela Kethiran was on Friday elected unopposed as Chairperson of the Coonoor municipality and M. Vaneeswari was elected in Udhagamandalam.

In Gudalur, S. Parimala, a DMK member from ward 12, contested in the indirect elections against Vennila, who had been nominated for the post by the DMK. Ms. Parimala secured 11 of the 21 votes from members and was elected chairperson. In Nelliyalam, C. Sivagami, an Adivasi woman, was elected as chairperson of the municipality.

Ten of the 11 town panchayats will also be headed by women. In Adhigaratty, M. Baby from the DMK was elected, while in Bikkaty, M. Chandralekha from the Congress party was elected unopposed. In Devarshola town panchayat, P. Valli was elected, while in Hulical, A. Radha was elected. Other chairpersons elected were K. Pangajam in Jagathala, P. Hema Malini in Ketti, P. Sathyavaani in Kil Kundah, K. Jayakumari in Kotagiri, Chitradevi in O-Valley and P.Gowri in Sholur, all from the DMK.

B. Kaliyamoorthy from the DMK was elected from the only non-reserved general ward in Naduvattam town panchayat. 

The post for chairperson in Kil Kundah town panchayat was not without controversy, as Nagammal, the DMK member who had been nominated by the party was defeated in an indirect election by the eventual winner P.Sathyavaani.

Nagammal and her husband staged a protest at the DMK office in Udhagamandalam, demanding that Sathyavaani and the councilors who voted for her be removed from the party.

In Coonoor, M. Wasim Raja from the DMK was elected vice-chairman of the municipality, while in Gudalur, S. Sivaraj was elected from the Congress. P. Nagarajan was elected in Nelliyalamm and J. Ravikumar was elected in Udhagamandalam municipality. Both are from the DMK.