Jajpur: The newly elected MLA from Bari Assembly seat, Sunanda Das, became the fourth woman to be elected as an MLA from Jajpur district. Sarmistha Sethy is the second woman to be elected as MP from Jajpur Lok Sabha seat. Both Sunanda and Sarmistha represent BJD.
Sunanda, the former BJP supported Bari block chairperson, joined the BJD before elections. Many BJD leaders were not happy with her, and dissidents opposed her strongly and tried to defeat her in the election.
However, Sunanda emerged victorious defeating her nearest rival Biswa Ranjan Mallick of the BJP by 4,062 votes. Sunanda received 72,559 votes while Biswaranjan polled 68,497 votes. Congress candidate Umesh Jena bagged 4,062 votes.
Sunanda was opposed by BJD dissident Sheikh Safiuddin (Tali) and his supporters, and the BJD leadership suspended him from the party.
No dissident opposed Biswaranjan, but he failed to get the support of senior party leaders. Re-polling was held in five booths after allegations of booth rigging and irregularities surfaced. The re-polling is said to have turned the tide in favour of Sunanda and helped her win.
Sarmistha was elected as the second woman MP from Jajpur Lok Sabha seat. She was preceded by Rita Tarai of the BJD.
Sukinda royal Anand Manjari Devi was the first woman MLA. Anand Manjari, a candidate of the Odisha Jan Congress, was elected to the Assembly from Sukinda Assembly seat in the 1967 general elections.
Anand Manjari received 13,005 votes and her nearest rival NC Pati of the Congress got 4,275 votes. Later, Anand Manjari, representing the Janata Party, was elected to the Assembly for the second time from the same constituency in 1977. After that no party fielded a woman from the Sukinda Assembly seat for 42 years.
Pramila Mallick of Janata Dal became the second woman to be elected to the Assembly from Binjharpur Assembly seat (reserved SC) in the 1990 general elections. Since then Pramila has been winning from Binjharpur.
Sanchita Mohanty of the BJP became the third woman to become an MLA from Korei Assembly seat, while Reeta Tarai became the first woman to be elected as an MP from Jajpur Lok Sabha seat.
Many political parties fielded women this time. The Congress fielded Bandita Parida from Korei and Smrutirekha Pahi from Dharmalasa. The BJP fielded Babita Mallick from Binjharpur. However, they failed to win in this election.
PNN