Odisha Assembly Speaker election: Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on September 22 will field its woman candidate for the Odisha Assembly Speaker election. As suggested by BJD, Odisha’s Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Pramila Mallik will file the nomination paper for the coveted post which has been lying vacant since the resignation of BK Arukha in May. According to officials, the Odisha Assembly Speaker election will be held at 9.30 am on September 22.
Date of election was rescheduled
The Speaker’s election was scheduled on September 21 and filing of nomination on September 18. But, the opposition BJP and Congress in the state announced to boycott it as it coincided with Nuakhai (the mass agrarian festival of western Odisha). So, the election was shifted to September 22 and the filing of nominations to September 21.
Though Mallik, elected from Binjharpur reserved seat (SC), was yet to resign from her present post as a Cabinet minister, she said, “I am indebted to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for considering me for the post of Speaker. After the election, I will be Odisha’s first woman speaker.”
Mallik has held several key posts
Mallik, the six-time MLA from Binjharpur in Jajpur district, won five successive elections since 2000 as a BJD candidate. In 1990, she was elected on a Janata Dal ticket. Mallik has held several key posts during her political career. She also worked as the government chief whip in the Assembly.
Mallik is all set to win the election as the ruling BJD has 113 MLAs in the Assembly, followed by BJP’s 22 lawmakers, 9 MLAs from Congress and one each from Independent and CPI(M) in the 147-member House in Odisha.
(with inputs from PTI)
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