The mayor of Kolkata, Firhad Hakim stepped down from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation on Friday afternoon after eight years at the helm.

"Firhad Hakim is nobody. Our revered personalities have sat on this seat. I was the municipal affairs minister and mayor. I did a lot (for the city). That is no longer possible now. I don't want to cling to the chair," Hakim said addressing a news conference at the KMC headquarters on SN Banerjee road.

"I requested our party chief Mamata Banerjee that I want to leave with my head held high," said Hakim, one of Mamata's staunch loyalists in the party.

A four-time MLA from Kolkata Port and councillor from ward 82 in the KMC, Hakim was appointed as mayor after his predecessor Sovan Chatterjee had a fallout with Mamata.

A Trinamool councillor said the party should announce a new mayor.

"We still have six months to serve the people of Kolkata. The state has not dissolved the board yet. In that case, there is nothing we can do," the councillor told The Telegraph Online.

If the KMC board is dissolved the civic body would be run by an administrator till fresh elections are held.

Hakim who served as the state urban development and municipal affairs minister was appointed mayor in November 2018.

Though Trinamool's general secretary Abhishek Banerjee opposed Hakim continuing as mayor, a Trinamool win in the 2021 civic polls ensured his return as mayor.

The Bengal Assembly poll results announced on May 4 came as a setback for Trinamool which was reduced to 80 seats in the 294-member Assembly, and the BJP to come into power.

In the 144-ward Kolkata Municipal Corporation, after this April's Assembly elections the BJP is leading in 102 wards and the Trinamool in the remaining 42. In 2021, Trinamool had won 134 wards in the KMC elections.

After the change of guard in Bengal, over 100 chairmen and councillors in 128 civic bodies across the state have resigned and a few arrested.

In Kolkata, two councillors have resigned—one of whom was also a borough chairman—while another borough chairman has also stepped down. Meanwhile, four councillors have been arrested in extortion cases.

Less than two hours before Hakim's resignation, six of the nine Trinamool councillors at the Mathabhanga municipality joined the Congress handing over the board to the grand old party in the north Bengal town.

Hakim refused to answer why he decided to resign with barely a few months left before the KMC polls.

"There were many challenges. During my tenure as mayor I tried to serve the people of Kolkata. 'Talk to mayor' was one such initiative I introduced where the city residents could directly tell me their problems and we tried to solve these," Hakim said.

Among his achievements he cited introducing online sanction of building plans, steps to curb construction of illegal buildings in slum areas, improving water supply and drainage system in the city.

"I had read when Subhas Chandra Bose was mayor he once walked through waist-high water in Thanthania, north Kolkata. Thanthania still suffers during monsoon. We started work on a drainage pumping station which has made progress. I hope whoever takes charge will complete the project," he said.

In the civic polls held in 108 municipal bodies in February 2022, Trinamool had won 103. The BJP did not win any civic body.

Chief minister Suvendu Adhikari had announced earlier elections pending for the civic bodies in neighbouring Howrah and Bally will be held by the end of this year.