Sushma Kharakwal

Kharakwal is from Uttarakhand but settled in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. She is a Pahadi Brahmin and her husband, Prem Kharakwal, is a retired havildar from Indian army. Together, they have two sons, Manish and Mayank.

She did her graduation at a college affiliated with Srinagar Garhwal University, Uttarakhand.^[6] She is a BJP worker for 30 years.^[7] She served as the president of the Avadh region Mahila Morcha and was also a member of the Sainik Welfare Board and Railway Users Advisory Committee.^[8]

Kharakwal represented the BJP and won the mayoral election defeating her nearest rival Vandana Mishra of the Samajwadi Party by a margin of 20, 414 votes. She polled 335,035 votes. She won in 80 of the 110 wards.^[9]

In January 2025, she made a controversial statement that 2 lakh Bangladeshis have entered Lucknow. Congress councillor Mukesh Singh Chauhan questioned her statement and demanded clarity on certain points.^[10] In August 2024, she allegedly threatened to throw the officials of the Municipal Corporation into the dirty drains, if they failed to keep them clean.^[11]