Half of the seats in Kerala’s local bodies are reserved for women, while top elected posts are kept aside for women for alternate terms. The last mayor being popular leader V K Prasanth, it was the turn of a woman to hold the post. The two women leaders the CPM had projected as mayor candidates both lost the election. Despite being active in politics for years, Arya had to keep her academic life apart. Both her college and the school she studied in, Carmel Girls’ Higher Secondary School, are Church-run institutions that don’t look favourably on campus politics. Arya expects she won’t be able to attend classes regularly once she takes up her new assignment. “But all my teachers and friends are really helpful. I will figure out a way to continue my studies as well,” she says.