Kochi, also known as Cochin is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of Kerala and is commonly referred to as Ernakulam. Kochi is the most densely populated city in Kerala. As of 2011, it has a corporation limit population of 677,381 within an area of 94.88 km2 and a total urban population of more than of 2.1 million within an area of 440 km2, making it the largest and the most populous metropolitan area in Kerala. Kochi city is also part of the Greater Cochin region and is classified as a Tier-II city by the Government of India. The civic body that governs the city is the Kochi Municipal Corporation, which was constituted in the year 1967, and the statutory bodies that oversee its development are the Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) and the Goshree Islands Development Authority (GIDA). The current metropolitan limits of Kochi include the mainland Ernakulam, Fort Kochi, the suburbs of Edapally, Kalamassery, Aluva and Kakkanad to the northeast; Tripunithura to the southeast; and a group of islands closely scattered in the Vembanad Lake.
Ernakulam, IPA: [erɐɳɐːguɭɐm]; ISO: Eṟaṇākuḷaṁ, in Malayalam: എറണാകുളം), is one of the 14 districts in the Indian state of Kerala, that takes its name from the eponymous city division in Kochi. It is situated in the central part of the state, spans an area of about 3,000 square kilometres (1,200 sq mi), and is home to over 9% of Kerala's population. Its headquarters are located at Kakkanad. The district includes Kochi, also known as the commercial capital of Kerala, which is famous for its ancient Churches, Hindu temples, synagogues and mosques. The district includes the largest metropolitan region of the state: Greater Cochin. Ernakulam is the district that yields the most revenue and the largest number of industries in the state. Ernakulam is the third most populous district in Kerala, after Malappuram and Thiruvananthapuram. The district also hosts the highest number of international and domestic tourists in Kerala state.
Oommen Chandy, IPA: [umːɐn̺ t͡ʃɐːɳɖi], is an Indian politician and statesman who served as the Chief Minister of Kerala for two terms, from 2004 to 2006 and again from 2011 to 2016. He was also Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Legislative Assembly from 2006 to 2011. He represents Puthuppally constituency as MLA in the State Assembly since 1970. He is the longest serving MLA in the Kerala Legislative Assembly and the only Indian Chief Minister to achieve award for public service from United Nations.
Karate R. Thiagarajan is a Tamil politician from the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP). He was part of the AIADMK and congress before joining the BJP in February 2021. He was the 38th Mayor of Chennai from October 2002 to October 2006.
Elattuvalapil Sreedharan is an Indian engineer and politician from the Indian state of Kerala. He is credited with changing the face of public transport in India with his leadership in building the Konkan Railway and the Delhi Metro while he served as the managing director of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) between 1995 and 2012. Known as the Metro Man, he was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2001, the Padma Vibhushan in 2008, the Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur in 2005 by the French government and was named one of Asia's Heroes by Time magazine in 2003. Sreedharan was appointed by the former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to serve on the United Nations's High Level Advisory Group on Sustainable Transport (HLAG-ST) for a period of three years in 2015. He is a member of Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board. He briefly served as a national executive council member of Bharatiya Janata Party, but later quit active politics in December 2021.
The United Democratic Front (UDF) is the Indian National Congress-led alliance of centre to centre-right political parties in the Indian state of Kerala. It is one of the two major political alliances in Kerala, the other being Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front, each of which has been in power alternately since 1980 E. K. Nayanar ministry. Most of the United Democratic Front constituents are members of the Indian National Congress-led United Progressive Alliance at pan-India level.
The Kochi Municipal Corporation is the municipal corporation that manages the Indian city of Kochi in the state of Kerala. Municipal Corporation mechanism in India was introduced during British Rule with formation of municipal corporation in Madras (Chennai) in 1688, later followed by municipal corporations in Bombay (Mumbai) and Calcutta (Kolkata) by 1762. The Corporation manages 94.88 km2 of Kochi city and has a population of 677,381 within that area. It is the most densely populated city corporation in the state. Kochi Municipal Corporation has been formed with functions to improve the infrastructure of town.
Mercy Williams, a teacher turned politician, was the 16th Mayor of Kochi, Kerala, and the first woman to hold that position in Kochi. A member of the Left Democratic Front, she was elected via an open ballot over opposing United Democratic Front candidate Winnie Abraham by a ratio of 47 to 23 votes among Kochi corporation council members. On the council, Williams represented the municipal corporation's 36th division (Kunnumpuram).
Kochi is a major port city in the Indian state of Kerala. The city is widely known as the commercial or economic capital of the state of Kerala.
The Pune Municipal Corporation is the civic body that governs the inner limits of Pune, India. It is in charge of the civic needs and infrastructure of the metropolis, which is spread over an area of 484.61 sq. km. and has 3.4 million residents. Established on 15 February 1950, the executive power of the PMC is vested in the Municipal Commissioner, an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer appointed by the Government of Maharashtra. The position is held by Vikram Kumar, IAS.The general body of the PMC consists of 162 directly elected councilors, popularly known as "corporators", headed by a mayor. Murlidhar Mohol (BJP) was elected as the mayor and Sunita Wadekar as the deputy mayor by the newly elected in April 2021. The land for Pune Municipal Corporation was donated by Late Hon. Shri. Bhausaheb Shirole (Patil) who was second Mayor of Pune city and later became an MLC.
The Kochi Metro is a rapid transit system serving the city of Kochi in Kerala, India. It was opened to the public within four years of starting construction, making it one of the fastest completed metro projects in India. The Kochi metro project is the first metro in the country which connects rail, road and water transport facilities. The first phase is being set up at an estimated cost of ₹51.81 billion (US$650 million). In October 2017, Kochi Metro was named the Best Urban Mobility Project in India by the Urban Development Ministry, as part of the Urban Mobility India (UMI) international conference hosted by the ministry every year.
Yusuff Ali Musaliam Veettil Abdul Kader, popularly known as Yusuff Ali M. A is a UAE-based Indian businessman and billionaire. He is the Chairman and Managing Director of LuLu Group International that owns the LuLu Hypermarket chain worldwide and LuLu International Shopping Mall. With an annual turnover of US$7.4 billion, LuLu Group International employs the largest number of Indians outside India. According to Forbes Middle East, Yusuff Ali was ranked No. 1 in Top 100 Indian business owners in the Arab World 2018.
Sovan Chatterjee is an Indian politician. He is a former member of Bharatiya Janata Party, and former Mayor of the city of Kolkata, the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Chatterjee served as a Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) councilor since 1985. In 2019, he joined Bharatiya Janata Party, and left in 2021.
Park Avenue is a famous tree-lined road starting from the western end of Durbar Hall Road to Broadway in the city of Kochi, India. Two large parks, Subhash Bose Park and Indira Priyadarshini Park are situated along the road, hence the name. Several famous historical buildings are also located alongside the road. The road has more than 45 flowering trees planted on both sides, forming a thick canopy over the road. This 1.5 km stretch was considered to be a model road for the city and the road extends further north as Shanmugham Road.
Jose Chacko Periappuram is an Indian cardiac surgeon and medical writer who performed the first successful heart transplant in the state of Kerala, India, as well as the first successful heart retransplant in the country. His other achievements include the first beating heart, awake bypass and total arterial revascularization surgeries in the state. Periappuram is a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, the Royal College of Surgeons of Glasgow and the Royal College of Surgeons of London. He is the founder and chairman of "Heart Care Foundation", a charitable trust that financially assists poor heart patients. The Government of India awarded him the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award, in 2011.
Subrata Mukherjee was an Indian politician who was cabinet minister of the government of West Bengal and sitting member of West Bengal Legislative Assembly. He was a member of All India Trinamool Congress. He was also the 35th Mayor of Kolkata from 2000 to 2005.
Kollam Municipal Corporation (KMC) is an ISO 9001:2015 certified civic body that governs the city of Kollam in the Indian state of Kerala. It is the fourth-largest city corporation by population in the state, and the fifth-largest by area. Constituted in 1903 it was officially recognized as a city corporation in 2000. The body governs an area of 73.03 square kilometres (28.20 sq mi) centered at Kollam, with about 55 divisions and a population of 397,419.
Kailash Vijayvargiya is an Indian politician serving as National General Secretary of Bharatiya Janata Party. He started his political career in the Indore Bharatiya Janata Party, and was the mayor of Indore, a six-time legislator who has never lost an assembly election, and a state government cabinet minister for over 12 years before being elevated to the party's central leadership.
Sabyasachi Dutta is an Indian politician from West Bengal. He belongs to the All India Trinamool Congress and was MLA from Rajarhat New Town Vidhan Sabha Constituency. He has also served as the first Mayor of Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation from 2015 to 2019. In 2019, he joined BJP.
Elections to local bodies in Kerala were held in December 2020. The polling was held in three stages; on 8, 10 and 14 December, with the votes counted and results announced on 16 December.
