In Kodungal panchayat of Tamil Nadu's Villupuram district, Malarvizhi, a Scheduled Caste woman elected as panchayat president in 2021, alleges that she was prevented from sitting in the president’s chair, denied access to the office and national flag-hoisting, and obstructed from exercising her administrative powers.
In this ground report, TNM's Nithesh Kumar looks at Malarvizhi’s fight to exercise the powers she was elected to hold, the caste dynamics that can shape village-level politics, and why political representation does not always translate into actual power.
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