LucknowDecember 7, 2025 04:14 PM IST
First published on: Dec 7, 2025 at 04:14 PM IST
Lucknow Mayor Sushma Kharakwal has repeatedly found herself at the centre of controversies during her nearly two-year tenure. Most recently, she drew sharp criticism from the Opposition after conducting inspections in slum areas of the state capital in search of alleged illegal Bangladeshi nationals and Rohingya people.
The episode echoed a controversy from earlier this year when the 61-year-old Kharakwal claimed, based on an alleged survey, that over two lakh illegal Bangladeshi nationals were living in Lucknow. But the Municipal Corporation dismissed her claim.
Her time in office has also been marked by a series of conflicts, not only with successive Municipal Commissioners but also BJP corporators.
Claiming that about 160 Bangladeshis or Rohingya who worked as “safai karamcharis” had already left their jobs, a defiant Kharakwal told The Indian Express, “I have been chosen by the public with a historic margin and I will continue to work for them and their safety. People are most important to me and they are happy with my style of working. As for the Opposition, which had given illegal electricity connections to such people, I want to tell them that my next campaign is starting soon. We will identify and disconnect all such electricity connections given illegally to slums. I would also request people to become aware of the issue and not to employ such people, as it is unsafe for them as well as the country.”
When the BJP chose Kharakwal as its 2023 mayoral candidate, replacing sitting Mayor Sanyukta Bhatia, the decision surprised many. She had no electoral track record and was instead projected as the quintessential grassroots worker. Having served the party for more than three decades across various organisational roles, including as president of the Mahila Morcha in the BJP’s Awadh region, she was positioned as a leader shaped entirely by cadre-based politics.
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A Brahmin originally from Uttarakhand, Kharakwal was also seen as a strategic choice to consolidate Brahmin and Pahari votes in the city. Her husband’s background as an ex-serviceman further added weight to her candidature, which the party framed as a reward for loyal ground-level commitment rather than political lineage.
Yet, her working style has frequently become a point of contention within the corporation. Several corporators claim the Mayor “acts like a dictator,” alleging that she pushes through her decisions without broader consultation, leading to repeated disruptions in the functioning of the civic body. At one stage, tensions escalated to the point that Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak had to intervene between Kharakwal and former Municipal Commissioner Indrajeet Singh.
More recently, another clash with the current Municipal Commissioner, Gaurav Kumar, is learnt to have contributed to delays in key civic projects.
In October, an executive committee meeting of the Lucknow Municipal Corporation ended without major outcomes after Kharakwal publicly accused officials of “non-cooperation”. According to sources, the standoff between the Mayor and the Commissioner stalled numerous works until senior party leaders stepped in to ease tensions.
Dissent has also surfaced within the BJP itself, as some corporators have openly criticised Kharakwal’s administrative approach, accusing her of attempting to enforce decisions unilaterally rather than taking everyone along.
However, a leader close to Kharakwal said that being a grassroots worker and having aggressively raised public issues as a political worker, her style of functioning involves spot inspections, surprise visits to offices to check the availability of the staff, and visiting the sites personally, and this had made some people “uncomfortable”.