CHENNAI: Chennai is set to get two young women councillors — 21-year-old Priyadharshini from CPI(M) and DMK’s 22-year-old Nilavarasi. They were among the youngest in the fray for the urban local body elections. Priyadharshini, who won from ward 98 of Anna Nagar zone, credits the opportunity to contest to the two decades of work her father Arumugam put in for CPI(M).
“My father is an auto driver and has been in the party for over 20 years. It’s because of him that I had this opportunity,” she said. A BA sociology student, she will now take up further studies through correspondence so as to not let it affect her work as a councillor.
“Residents are in need of basic amenities like water and good roads. Water stagnation is also an issue in the ward,” she said. Nilavarasi, who won from ward 136 in Kodambakkam zone, is planning to do MBA. She is prepared to balance her duties as a councillor, and her studies.
“I would have worked anyway while pursuing MBA. Now I’ll work for the people,” she said. Her father Durairaj has been associated with the DMK for around 35 years. “Removing garbage is one thing but the ideal way to combat the issue of garbage disposal is to educate people why it’s important to not litter,” she said. AIADMK’s twenty-five-year-old Ashwini Karuna, a B Arch graduate, won from ward 196 of Sholinganallur zone that includes Kannagi Nagar.