Firhad Hakim elected Kolkata mayor

Kolkata got its first Muslim Mayor since Independence with the victory of senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and the state’s Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim in the Mayoral elections on Monday. Hakim gained a thumping victory over his rival BJP candidate Meena Devi Purohit.

While Hakim secured 121 votes out of the total 144 members of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), Purohit managed to get only five votes. The 12 councillors of the Left Front and two councillors of Congress boycotted the election. The results of the election was declared by the Municipal Secretary Harihar Prasad Mondal.

Addressing the media after election results were declared Hakim took a swipe at the state BJP leadership who had claimed that there will be cross-voting from TMC in favour of the BJP candidate.

“All 121 TMC councillors present today voted for me as per the party’s whip. BJP claimed that cross-voting in favour of their candidate will be a moral victory for them. But since that did not happen it means that BJP has got moral defeat,” said Hakim.

He also said that as Mayor his primary focus will be streamlining solid waste management and resolving waterlogging issue in the Behala area of Kolkata.

Hakim’s victory comes after several political twists and turns involving former Mayor Sovan Chatterjee’s resignation the post of Mayor as per the instructions of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The Chief Minister asked Chatterjee to resign as Mayor after he abruptly tendered his resignation as the Minister of Fire and Emergency Services and Housing Minister last month.

Last month TMC government passed the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (Second Amendment) Bill,2018 according to which someone who is not an elected member of KMC can become the Mayor on condition that he becomes a councillor within six months of getting elected as Mayor by other councillors. Hakim is yet to become a councillor.

Hakim’s election as Mayor faced another hurdle when a CPI(M) councillor approached the Calcutta High Court last week challenging Hakim’s candidature as Mayor because he is not a councillor.