COIMBATORE: Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) ward 29 councillor R Ranganayaki of the DMK was elected unopposed as the mayor of the city corporation on Tuesday. As none of the other councillors filed nomination papers against her, no election was held.
Of the total 100 wards in the CCMC, DMK and its allies have a strong majority with 96 ward councillors. The remaining councillors include three from AIADMK and an independent.
After being the mayor of CCMC for around two years, Kalpana Anandakumar of ward 19 tendered her resignation last month citing personal and health reasons. In view of this, the CCMC mayor post was declared vacant and an election was announced to fill the seat on August 6.
Following this, DMK party high command chose Ward 29 councillor R Ranganayaki as the mayor candidate and ministers KN Nehru and S Muthusamy made the official announcement regarding this on Monday.
CCMC Commissioner M Sivaguru Prabakaran, the electoral officer, conducted the election on Tuesday. R Ranganayaki filed her nomination papers in the morning with the electoral officer and it was later accepted after scrutiny.
Since no other councillor filed nomination against Ranganayaki, she was declared the winner and the commissioner handed over the certificate to her. Ministers Nehru and Muthusamy presented her with the Sengol and wished her success in her new role.
Addressing the mediapersons, Ranganayaki thanked the party high command for giving her an opportunity and said she would work hard to address the problems faced by the people. Apart from the three AIADMK councillors, all the remaining 97 councillors attended the election held at the Victoria Hall in the CCMC head office on Tuesday.