Toronto Votes 2026: Parthi Kandavel re-elected as councillor in Scarborough Southwest

By ALAN SHACKLETON

Parthi Kandavel has been re-elected as councillor for Ward 20 Scarborough Southwest.

Kandavel took 35.99 per cent of the vote over second-place finisher Kevin Rupasinghe who had 30.93 per cent of the vote in Monday (Oct. 26) night’s Toronto municipal election.

The race was close for quite a while as results trickled in slowly at first due to some polling station delays which did not see results start to come in until after 9 p.m. — more than an hour after the polls closed on Monday night.

This was Kandavel’s second straight election as Ward 20 councillor as he was first elected to the seat in the November 2023 byelection to replace Gary Crawford who had stepped down after winning the seat in 2022.

In an interview with media at his campaign headquarters on Kingston Road in Cliffside, Kandavel said he was looking forward to continuing to advocate for Scarborough at Toronto Council while also working towards a stronger city as a whole.

“Scarborough has a lot to offer the rest of the city, and we need to host those conversations,” he said.

Kandavel is no stranger to representing Scarborough Southwest both as the councillor since 2023 and before that as a Toronto District School Board trustee.

“I’m grateful that the people of Scarborough Southwest have placed their trust in me for a fourth time, as councillor and trustee,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of work to do, this will be my first full term as councillor. I’m looking forward to a new term with Mayor (Olivia) Chow and a number of new colleagues, new councillors-elect.”

Chow, who was first elected mayor in a June 2023 byelection was re-elected as Toronto’s mayor on Monday night despite a strong challenge from former Beaches-East York Councillor Brad Bradford, who finished second in the voting.

Kandavel stressed that while he had worked well with Chow in the past, he will be an independent councillor and should not be considered by anyone to be a member of Team Chow (as some other councillors have declared themselves). He said there will be a “lot of unpacking” for the mayor and members of the next council to do given the divisiveness of both the mayoral and a number of council campaigns across the city.

“There’s a lot of important discussions and conversations the people of Toronto want us to have. The majority of Torontonians are looking for a mandate and direction that is reflective of all Torontonians,” he said.

Kandavel added that it was important the “urban-suburban divide” within Toronto be recognized and that all parts of the city are treated with respect. He said it was important to be “reflective” of concerns being raised in different parts of Toronto. “We’re looking for strong leadership from council that isn’t toxic and divisive.”

At the doors during the campaign, Kandavel said he heard about a number of issues of importance to Scarborough Southwest residents. “It was a mix of the impact of property taxes, some understood it, but others felt they were not seeing the money come back to Scarborough. That’s something a lot of people across the ward feel. That is something we are going to have start navigating in the new term.”

Rupasinghe said issues of affordability were what he often heard from Scarborough Southwest residents while on the campaign trail.

“We had a fantastic campaign and I talked to a lot of people in Scarborough Southwest. Many of them felt it was time for a change and time to have a new vision,” he said in an interview at his campaign party at Jatujak restaurant on Kingston Road in Cliffside.

“A lot of people are concerned about how hard it is to keep a roof over their head and food on the table. It’s also hard to move around the city. I think a lot of people also want to have a more positive relationship with their leaders at city hall.”

This was Rupasinghe’s third time running for the councillor seat in Scarborough Southwest. In the 2022 municipal election, Rupasinghe (with 3,208 votes for 13.69 per cent of the votes cast) was third in that 2022 race as Crawford won with 8,216 votes (35.07 per cent), with Kandavel in second with 6,936 (29.61 per cent)

After Crawford stepped down in 2023, Rupasinghe finished second to Kandavel in a Nov. 30 byelection that year. Kandavel had 4,641 votes (27.38 per cent) to win the Scarborough Southwest council seat compared to Rupasinghe’s 3,854 votes (22.74 per cent).

The final vote count, with 61 of 61 polls reporting in Scarborough Southwest on Monday night was Kandavel with 12,231 (35.99 per cent); Rupasinghe with 10,513 (30.93 per cent); Sharmina Nasrin with 3,013 (8.86 per cent); Ariel-Rachel Karokis with 2,573 (7.57 per cent); Luigi Lisciandro with 2,432 (7.16 per cent); Mohammad Ali Reza with 1,523 (4.48 per cent); Laikul Choudhury 1,169 (3.44 per cent) and Naser Kaid 535 (1.57 per cent).