Hakim begins door-to-door campaign for ward 82 bypoll

Kolkata: Firhad Hakim undertook his first door-to-door campaign at ward 82 in Chetla on Sunday morning. He will contest from the same KMC ward, where the by-election will be held on January 6 next year. The seat fell vacant after sitting councillor Pranab Biswas resigned recently on health grounds.

"I am familiar with all the lanes and bylanes of Chetla where I grew up playing with marbles. My emotions are connected with this place as this is my root. I have come to seek blessings from the residents and I am confident of winning convincingly in the by-election," Hakim said, adding that the vote campaign is simply a pretext of meeting people in the locality.

The new Mayor of Kolkata further said that he will always continue to be with the people of Chetla. "If the earth beneath a tree is removed it will be uprooted. It is the same with me. If I separate myself from the people of Chetla I will cease to exist in politics," Hakim reiterated.

He lashed out at BJP for their politics of creating rift among people in the name of religion. "They have no place in Bengal as the people in the state live amicably irrespective of caste and creed," he maintained.

It may be mentioned that before Hakim took over as the Kolkata Mayor, the state government had brought an amendment in the KMC Act, 1980, that stipulates that a non-councillor can become Mayor, but the person will have to contest and win a by-election within 6 months of taking over as the Mayor.

The by-election is expected to be a cakewalk for Hakim, who was elected in 2000 as a councillor from. Later, he became Member, Mayor-in-Council (Roads).

Football coach Sanjoy Sen, who is a resident of ward 82, said: "Everybody knows how Firhad is working for the development of the state. So I will appeal to everybody to vote for him."

BJP will field Jiban Sen against Hakim in the by-election. Sen is the organisational president of the saffron party in South Kolkata. Sisir Dutta will contest as the Left candidate.