Wiping her brow every now and then, Sujatha Anandakumar seemed nervous on a hot day at her small office on the Old Bangalore Road in Konavattam, but she was absolutely set on one thing — to make Vellore a smart city during her tenure.
The 38-year-old postgraduate has been chosen as the Mayoral candidate of the Vellore Municipal Corporation by the DMK. The Vellore Municipal Corporation has 60 wards, covering four zones, with a population of around 8 lakh. The DMK won in 44 wards.
The newly-elected councilors will elect a Mayor and deputy mayor in an indirect election that will be held on Friday at the civic body’s headquarters on Infantry Road near the Vellore Fort. “I have to thank the voters and the party for giving me this opportunity. Residents’ basic needs will be met. They can call me anytime to highlight any civic issues,” Ms. Sujatha, a mother of two, told The Hindu.
A native of Vellore, Ms. Sujatha spent most of her life in Konavattam. She did her schooling in the government school in the neighbourhood before she did M.Ed and Law. She joined the DMK in 2004 as a party cadre after much persuasion by her husband, K. Anandkumar, who has been with the party since 1991.
The couple ran a cable television network in the neighbourhood for more than two decades. As a grassroots worker, she highlighted the residents’ basic facilities with the authorities of the local bodies for many years. In 2011, she became the secretary for the women’s wing of the DMK in Vellore.
Subsequently, she contested in the urban local bodies poll from ward 31 but lost by 50 votes. A decade later, she bagged 3,083 votes, almost 50.47% of those polled, in the same ward and won by a margin of 1,366. Apart from realising the Smart City Project, which was being implemented only in Sathuvachari (Zone-2) now as a pilot project, Ms. Sujatha said inundation, especially in Shenbakkam (Zone-4) during the rainy seasons would be addressed by widening the existing stormwater drains in the neighbourhood.
The ongoing underground drainage work in some areas would be expedited. More importantly, traffic in the city’s thoroughfares, including the Green Circle junction, Anna Salai and CMC Road, would be eased by removing encroachments and curbing illegal parking. Likewise, the under-construction long distance bus terminus would be completed this year, she said.
The Vellore Municipality was upgraded to a corporation in 2008 with P. Karthikeyan, the present Vellore MLA, becoming the mayor that year. After delimitation exercises, the corporation went to polls for the first time in 2011. The then AIADMK candidate P. Karthiyayini, now a BJP office-bearer, became the Mayor in direct election.
Elections for 42 urban local bodies, consisting of 16 municipalities, 25 town panchayats and one corporation (Vellore City Corporation), comprising 905 wards in Vellore, Ranipet, Tiruvannamalai and Tirupattur districts, were held on February 19.
A total of 16.29 lakh voters registered in these districts. The DMK, which won in most places, has announced its Chairman and Deputy Chairman candidates for municipalities and town panchayats in these districts. These candidates will be elected by councilors in an indirect election that will be held on Friday.
