Administration and Politics
See also: Tiruchirappalli Municipal Corporation
Corporation officials
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The municipality of Tiruchirappalli was inaugurated under the Town Improvements Act 1865 on 1 November 1866 covering an area of 18 square kilometres (6.9 sq mi) and originally consisted of two ex-officio and nine nominated members. Elections to the council were introduced in 1877 and the first chairman was elected in 1889. The municipality was upgraded to a municipal corporation as per the Tiruchirappalli City Municipal Corporation Act 1994 by inclusion of the Srirangam and Golden Rock municipalities. The municipal corporation currently covers an area of 164.7 square kilometres (63.6 sq mi) and comprises 65 wards and four administrative zones: Srirangam, Ariyamangalam, Golden Rock and Abhishekapuram.
The Tiruchirappalli City Municipal Corporation Council, the legislative body, comprises 65 councillors elected from each of the 65 wards and is headed by a mayor assisted by a Deputy Mayor. The executive wing is made up of seven departments: General administration, revenue, town planning, engineering, public health, information technology and personnel and is headed by a City Commissioner. The Commissioner is assisted by two executive engineers for the east and west sections, and Assistant Commissioners for personnel, accounts and revenue departments, a public relations officer, a city engineer, a city health officer and an Assistant Commissioner for each of the four zones.
The city of Tiruchirappalli is represented in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly by four elected members, one each for the Tiruchirappalli – I, Tiruchirappalli – II, Srirangam and Tiruverumbur constituencies. Tiruchirappali is also a part of the Tiruchirappalli Lok Sabha constituency and elects a member to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India, once every five years. The Lok Sabha seat has been held by the Indian National Congress for four terms (1957–62, 1984–89, 1989–91 and 1991–96), the Communist Party of India for three terms (1962–67, 1971–77 and 1977–80) and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (2001–04 and 2009–present) and Bharatiya Janata Party (1998–99 and 1999–2001) for two terms each. Candidates from the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar) and the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam have won once each. Indian politician Rangarajan Kumaramangalam who served as the Minister of Power in the government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was elected to the Lok Sabha from Tiruchirappalli in the 1998 and 1999 elections.
Law and order is enforced by the Tamil Nadu police, which, for administrative purposes, has constituted Tiruchirappalli city as a separate district. The district is divided into five sub-divisions with a total of 18 police stations. The Tiruchirappalli city police force is headed by a Commissioner of police assisted by Deputy Commissioners. Law and order enforcement in the suburban areas are handled by the Tiruchirappalli district police. As of 2008, Tiruchirappalli had a crime rate of 459.99 making it the second highest among cities in Tamil Nadu. However, Tiruchirappalli had the lowest proportion of murder, rape and kidnapping cases.
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