Firhad Hakim

Personal life Hakim's grandfather migrated from the Gaya district of Bihar to Kolkata and started his business. His father, Abdul Hakim, was a law officer for the Kolkata Port Trust. He is married to Ismat Hakim. They have three daughters—Priyadarshini, Shabba and Afsha. They live in Chetla, a neighborhood of South Kolkata. He is nicknamed Bobby after the Australian cricketer Bobby Simpson.

Hakim graduated from Heramba Chandra College with a degree in commerce.

Minister of West Bengal In the late 1990s, Hakim was first elected as a councilor of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation.

In the 2011 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, Hakim won from the Kolkata Port constituency as a candidate of the All India Trinamool Congress. He received 63,866 votes and defeated his nearest rival Moinuddin Shams of the All India Forward Bloc by a margin of 25,033 votes. Subsequently, he became the Minister of Urban Development and Municipal Affairs in the first Mamata Banerjee cabinet.

On 3 March 2013, the Ultadanga Flyover (located in East Kolkata) collapsed at 4:30 AM, well ahead of the rush-hour traffic. Three people were injured. Hakim blamed a crack that was detected in the flyover as a reason behind the collapse. He said that the problem was "not related to maintenance but a technical fault in the bolt system". In June 2014, he announced that 22 new municipalities would be created in West Bengal.

In the 2016 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, Hakim defeated his nearest rival, Rakesh Singh of the Left Front-Indian National Congress alliance by a margin of 26,548 votes. On 16 June 2017, he was appointed chairman of the Tarakeswar Development Board.

Mayor of Kolkata On 20 November 2018, Sovan Chatterjee, then mayor of Kolkata, resigned as a cabinet minister. Two days later, he resigned from the post of the mayor of Kolkata. Subsequently, Trinamool Congress announced that Hakim would be their mayoral candidate. The state government passed the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (Second Amendment) Bill, 2018. This allows a candidate who is not a member of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation to be appointed mayor of the city, provided they are elected to the same within a period of six months.

On 28 November 2018, Hakim filed his nomination. The following day the Bharatiya Janata Party announced Mina Debi Purohit (former deputy mayor) as their mayoral candidate. He secured 121 votes while Purohit received five votes; Hakim was elected mayor. He became the first Muslim since the independence of India to be elected mayor of Kolkata.

On getting elected, Hakim said that "pollution and environment are two areas" on which he would like to work. He also set up a WhatsApp number, promising to act on complaints received on that mobile number.

In January 2019, it was announced that Hakim would contest ward no. 82 of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation. In a by-election, he won the ward and defeated his nearest rival Jiban Sen of the Bharatiya Janata Party by a margin of 13,987 votes; Hakim received 16,564 votes. The term of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation expired on 7 May 2020, however due to the COVID-19 pandemic, elections couldn't be held on time to elect the new councillors of the KMC and was delayed. He resigned as chairman of board of administrators of KMC on 22 March 2021 after the Election Commission of India (ECI) has restrained political appointees serving as board administrators of West Bengal municipal corporations, ahead of the 2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election. He was succeeded by IAS Khalil Ahmed.

Hakim resigned from the post Mayor of Kolkata on 5 June 2026.

Controversies

Narada sting In 2016, the Narada sting operation video was released in which Hakim was seen allegedly taking bribes. On 19 September 2017, he was questioned for eight hours by the Central Bureau of Investigation at Nizam Palace about the sting operation. Hakim said that the CBI probe was a "political conspiracy" against his party and that "he was not seen taking cash in any of the footage".

On 17 May 2021, he along with senior minister Subrata Mukherjee, MLA and former minister Madan Mitra and former Mayor of Kolkata Sovan Chatterjee had been arrested by Central Bureau of Investigation from their house in connection with the Narada sting operation.

Controversial remarks Before the 2016 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, Hakim, while speaking to Maleeha Hamid Sidiqqui of Pakistani newspaper Dawn, referred to his constituency as "mini-Pakistan". However, he denied making such a statement. He said "she (the Pakistani journalist) only asked me that this place looks like Karachi of Pakistan. I did not make any comment". He also said that he was "being targeted for being a Muslim and that it was a communal conspiracy".

In November 2024, while campaigning for Sheikh Rabiul Islam in the Haroa by-election, he allegedly made objectionable remarks about Rekha Patra, the BJP candidate and prominent advocate for the victims of the Sandeshkhali incident. His comments drew condemnation from Suvendu Adhikari, the Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, who urged the National Commission for Women to take appropriate action.