Gadwal Vijayalakshmi, Fourth Woman Mayor Of Hyderabad: Gadwal Vijayalakshmi who was elected as the 17th Mayor of Hyderabad in 2021, joins the elite list of Sarojini Pulla Reddy, Rani Kumudini Devi, Banda Karthika Reddy who earlier served as woman Mayors of Hyderabad and is the fourth woman Mayor of Hyderabad.

1. 1962-63 - Rani Kumudini Devi

2. 1965-66 - Sarojini Pulla Reddy.

3.1968-69 - Mrs. B.Kumud Nayak

3. 2009-07- Banda Karthika Reddy.

4. 2021 - Gadwal Vijayalakshmi

Deputy Mayor

Apart from her, Mothe Srilatha Reddy was elected as the first woman Deputy Mayor of the GHMC council and in  a first of its sorts, GHMC has two women leading the helm of affairs in the city.  Prior to Srilatha Reddy there were two women Deputy Mayors in Hyderabad.

1. 1961-62 - Mrs. M. Venkatesham

2. 1964-65 - Mrs. M. Venkayya

3. 2021 - Mothe Srilatha Reddy

TRS Corporator Srilatha Reddy who was elected Deputy Mayor, won from Tarnaka Division. A graduate Srilatha Reddy is married to Shobhan Reddy  and they have two children, Rajeevi and Sritejaswi. Srilatha, ran a boutique for 20 years, later entered politics. She was also the Secretary General of the TRS Women’s Section

Gadwal Vijaylakshmi Profile

Gadwal Vijaylakshmi  a TRS corporator from the Banjara Hills division - 93 is the daughter of Rajya Sabha TRS MP Dr. K Keshava Rao. She has spent much of her early life in Hyderabad, where she completed her schooling from Holy Mary. After that studied her Bachelor's degree from Reddy Women's College and completed a course in journalism from Bharathiya Vidya Bhavan. She went on to study further and completed her Law degree from Sultan Ul Uloom Law College.

After her marriage to Bobby Reddy, she relocated to the US and lived there for 26 years. While in the USA she worked as a research assistant in Duke University, North Carolina in the cardiology department which is one of the 5th largest research Universities.

They returned to India in 2007 and she gave up her US citizenship and obtained Indian citizenship in 2009 to join her father in politics.

In 2016, she contested as a corporator from the TRS party and won with a huge majority. Ever since, she has worked for the development of Banjara Hills division. She successfully won the GHMC elections again for the second time in December last year.

Expressing happiness over her election as Mayor, Vijayalakshmi thanked KCR and KTR for reposing faith in her. “As a woman Mayor, my first priority is to ensure safety and security to women in the city and develop Hyderabad as a global city,” she said.

The post of the Mayor is reserved for a woman Corporator for the next two terms (10 years) of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC). The post will be held by woman corporators in the Backward Category first and the General category later

Presently, the Mayoral post is reserved for the Backward Classes. The Mayor's post was reserved for women through a lottery draw held in the presence of political parties at the Director of Municipal Administration (CDMA) early this year.

This is the first time that the Mayor's post is being reserved for a woman. Similarly, in the 150 wards, 75 wards (50 per cent) have been reserved for women. Of the 150 wards, two have been reserved for STs, SCs (10), Backward Classes (50), Women-General (44) and unreserved (44).