Arya Rajendran, India's youngest mayor, to marry Kerala MLA Sachin Dev

Thiruvananthapuram mayor Arya Rajendran and CPI(M) MLA Sachin Dev have known each other since their days as activists of the Students Federation of India. (Images: Twitter and Facebook)

Thiruvananthapuram mayor Arya Rajendran is set to marry Kerala MLA KM Sachin Dev. The couple are yet to announce a date for their wedding.

Arya Rajendran, a member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), had been appointed the mayor of Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala’s capital city, in 2020, when she was 21-years-old. She became the youngest mayor in India.

Dev, who is also associated with CPI(M), is the among the youngest members in the Kerala assembly, according to The Hindu. He is an MLA from Balussery.

Rajendran and Dev have known each other since their days as activists of the Students Federation of India – the student’s wing of CPI(M). Rajendran had campaigned for Dev ahead of the 2021 Kerala assembly elections, The Hindu reported.

The two eventually decided to get married and informed their families and party about the decision.

“When the discussion (of marriage) came up between us, we immediately brought it to the notice of family and the party,” Rajendran was quoted as saying by The Times of India. “As people's representatives, we found it proper to inform the party and our families before different kinds of rumors would spread.”

At a press briefing on Wednesday, Rajendran said that marrying someone with the same political ideology was important.

The mayor told the media that the date for the wedding is yet to be decided.

"Marriage is not the last word...It is something that has to be deliberated,” she said, according to The Times of India. “The families have to decide on a suitable date," she said, adding, "The party has to decide and suggest." "There are personal matters to be considered including study. The timing of marriage will be decided later.”

Rajendran had been studying mathematics at All Saints' College in Thiruvananthapuram when she was appointed the mayor. The young leader has said that she wants to balance her academics and political career.