BJD to field woman candidate for Odisha Assembly Speaker election on Sept 22

Odishas Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Pramila Mallik on Wednesday said she will file the nomination paper for the Odisha Assembly Speakers election as suggested by her party BJD. Mallik will file papers for the coveted post which has been lying vacant since the resignation of BK Arukha in May. The election will be held at 9.30 am on September 22, officials said.

Odisha’s Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Pramila Mallik on Wednesday said she will file the nomination paper for the Odisha Assembly Speaker's election as suggested by her party (BJD). Mallik will file papers for the coveted post which has been lying vacant since the resignation of BK Arukha in May. The election will be held at 9.30 am on September 22, officials said. Earlier, the Speaker's election was scheduled on September 21 and filing of nomination on September 18. However, after opposition BJP and Congress announced to boycott the election as it coincided with Nuakhai, the mass agrarian festival of western Odisha, it was shifted to September 22 and filing of nomination 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 election, I will be Odisha’s first woman speaker.'' 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.