O. Sadasivan is new Mayor of Kozhikode

O. Sadasivan of Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] was elected Mayor of the Kozhikode Municipal Corporation on Friday (December 26, 2025). He was pitched against S.K. Aboobakker of the Indian National Congress and Nambidi Narayanan of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the first round of polling, in which they scored 35, 28 and 13 votes respectively.

Mr. Narayanan was eliminated for the second round of polling in which BJP councillors stayed out. The two top candidates scored 33 and 28 votes respectively, while two were rejected.

Meanwhile, S. Jayasree of the CPI(M) was elected deputy mayor in a separate election held in the afternoon. She had competition from Fathima Thehlia of the Indian Union Muslim League and Navya Haridas of the BJP for the post reserved for women this time. The procedure was the same as the one for the Mayor’s post. The candidates bagged 35, 28 and 13 votes respectively in the first round after which Ms. Haridas was eliminated. In the final round, Ms. Jayasree bagged 35 and Ms. Thehlia bagged 28 votes respectively, while BJP councillors did not cast their votes.

District Collector Snehil Kumar Singh was the presiding officer for both the elections. He administered the oath to Mr. Sadasivan who in turn administered the oath to Ms. Jayasree.

Addressing the media later, Mr. Sadasivan said the whole council would work together for the development of the city, and that a stronger Opposition was a positive factor. He said he would strive to resolve issues related to sewage treatment plants, shifting of the Palayam market, and several pending projects through discussions.

He added that waste management was of utmost priority even for the new council, and that as a farmer himself, he had special interest in introducing projects in the agriculture sector that would actually benefit the public.