The Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation will get its third woman mayor after the October 28 election. TDP candidate Mukka Sravani faces YSRCP nominee Varudu Kalyani for the top post. Sravani, a former corporator, hopes to make history for her party, while Kalyani brings her experience as an MLC to the race.
VISAKHAPATNAM: The Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) is set to get its third woman mayor, with Telugu Desam Party (TDP) candidate Mukka Sravani taking on YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) nominee Varudu Kalyani in the October 28 election. If elected, Sravani will become the first woman mayor from the TDP in the corporation.
Congress leader Rajana Ramani served as mayor from 2000 to 2005, while YSRCP's G Hari Venkata Kumari held the post from 2021 to 2025.
Sravani, a physiotherapy doctor who is now active in full-time politics, is a former corporator from Ward 26 under the erstwhile ward arrangement. She is the daughter of senior TDP leader Mukka Mutyala Naidu, who has been associated with the party since its inception in 1983.
Sravani joined the TDP in 2015, and began working actively for the party. She won as a corporator from Ward 26 in the 2021 GVMC elections.
Sravani's candidature had been under discussion from the beginning, and the party leadership eventually chose her as the alliance candidate for the mayor post. She belongs to the Kapu community.
Meanwhile, YSRCP candidate Kalyani filed her nomination on Saturday. She became a Member of Legislative Council (MLC) in 2021, and is the State president of the YSRCP women's wing. Her term as MLC is due to end next year. She holds a BSc in Agriculture and an MBA from Osmania University, and belongs to the Koppula Velama community, classified under the BC category.
The nomination process for the second general elections to the GVMC is gathering pace, with 594 nominations filed for ward member posts in the first two days. Of these, 528 were filed on Saturday.