Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Firhad Hakim was on Thursday named the Mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC).

       Hakim, who won the KMC election from ward 82, is the former mayor of the city and was appointed the civic body's administrator after the earlier board's term expired in 2020 but elections could not be held due to the pandemic. He became the mayor of Kolkata in December 2018 after Sovan Chatterjee's abrupt exit.

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       The new mayor, who is also an MLA from the Kolkata Port assembly segment, holds the Transport and Housing portfolios in the state cabinet

       "I want to thank Mamata Banerjee for giving me this opportunity to serve the people of Kolkata again. I have been appointed as the leader of the party and after taking oath as mayor, I will work towards implementing the manifesto," said Hakim, the first Muslim mayor of the city.

       West Bengal's ruling TMC had gained control of the 144-member KMC on Tuesday. Mamata Banerjee's party won 134 seats to post a hat-trick of wins, decimating a frail challenge from the opposition BJP, the Left Front and the Congress.

       Further, South Kolkata Lok Sabha MP Mala Roy, re-elected as councillor from ward 88, was named the chairperson of the KMC after the meeting, held at Maharashtra Niwas here. She was chairman of the civic body in the earlier term as well.

       Kashipur-Belgachia MLA Atin Ghosh, who became the councillor from ward 11, was again appointed the deputy mayor of the civic body.

       The TMC bagged 71.95% of the votes polled, whereas the Left Front and the BJP bagged 11.13 and 8.94% each. Congress clinched 4.47% of the votes and Independents 3.25%.

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       The ruling party got 22% votes more than the 2015 KMC polls and increased its vote share by 11% compared to the April-May assembly elections.

       The BJP, which lost much of its steam after the assembly poll defeat, managed to win just three wards, a senior State Election Commission official said. The Congress and the CPI(M)-led Left Front bagged two wards each, and Independents three.

       The Left Front, despite the mauling, finished second to the TMC in terms of vote share.

       Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, who has been trying to expand her party's footprint beyond her native state, saw in the victory a leg-up for her national ambitions.

       "I want to dedicate this triumph to the people of the state and 'Maa, Mati, Manush' (mother, land and people - TMC slogan for many years). Several national parties like the BJP, Congress, and CPI(M) fought against us, but they were all defeated. This is a victory of a daughter of the soil. This victory will show the way in national politics in days to come," Banerjee had said after her party's victory.

       The TMC had swept all the 16 assembly segments in the city in the assembly polls and the BJP was its main challenger. The saffron party was second after the TMC in the assembly elections in all the wards constituting the 16 seats in terms of vote share.

       With inputs from agencies.

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