Kannur: The Congress on Wednesday announced senior party leader P Indira as the new Mayor of the Kannur Corporation, marking a smooth transition of leadership after the UDF’s improved performance in the civic polls. Announcing her name, veteran Congress leader and Kannur MP K Sudhakaran said the decision was unanimous.

Indira (56), who served as Deputy Mayor in the outgoing council, becomes the sixth Mayor of Kannur Corporation. She was elected from the Payyambalam ward, polling 345 votes and defeating BJP candidate Aparna Purushothaman by a margin of 49 votes. She had to overcome a rebel candidate, too. BJP was widely expected to win in Payyambalam.

Sudhakaran, the former state Congress president, said the UDF improved its standing in the 56-member council from 34 to 36 councillors. “Even in LDF strongholds, the UDF has secured more votes than expected. This is a clear endorsement of UDF,” he said. The LDF was reduced to 15 seats, down from 19 last time. The BJP improved its tally to four from one councillor in 2020-2025. 

Indira welcomed the party’s decision, saying she had expected the Congress to recognise her seniority. “I expected the party to honour my seniority,” she said, expressing gratitude for the confidence the party had placed in her. A familiar face in Kannur’s civic and political circles, Indira had represented the Udayamkunnu division in the previous council. Even before Kannur was upgraded to a corporation, she had served two terms as a councillor when it was a municipality.

Her political journey began in student politics. A former KSU leader at Co-operative Arts & Science College, Madayi, Indira later emerged as a prominent student leader at KMM Government Women's College, Kannur, where she led the KSU to wrest the college union from the SFI for the first time and went on to become the college chairperson. At the time, the then Chief Minister K Karunakaran visited Kannur to felicitate her, a moment that cemented her image as a rising leader and the female face of the Congress in the district.

Though the Congress in Kannur finalised its candidates relatively late in Kannur corporation, it became the first unit to declare its mayoral nominee.

As part of the UDF’s power-sharing arrangement, the Deputy Mayor’s post will go to the IUML, with K P Thahir, who won from the Varam division, emerging as the likely choice. After two-and-a-half years, the mayoral post is expected to be handed over to the IUML. At that stage, Congress’s young leader and party spokesperson Rijil Makkutty, who won from the Adikadalayi division, may be considered for the Deputy Mayor’s post. Makkutty had wrested the seat from the CPI, defeating both the Left and an IUML rebel candidate.

Sudhakaran said the new council would roll out a series of major development initiatives in the city within a year, describing them as “mass projects.”