Odisha Elections 2024: Is Naveen Patnaik’s Women Empowerment Claim A Gimmick?

Bhubaneswar: Known for its claims about empowering women, the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) is ahead of others in fielding women candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Odisha.

The Naveen Patnaik-led party has sent the highest number of women warriors to the battlefield for the upcoming polls this time. While fielding women candidates for 33 per cent of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in the state, the regional party has also nominated a large number of women for the Assembly constituencies.

However, political observers claim that the reality is quite different from the picture presented by ruling party. While wives of senior party leaders have been fielded in several constituencies, daughters of stalwarts have jumped into the poll fray with BJD tickets at many places. Even in constituencies where eligible and popular candidates are available, the ruling party chose to field imported leaders as its candidates to meet the 33 per cent quota target.

Wives Of Leaders In Poll Battle

While the regional party has so far announced its candidates for 144 Assembly constituencies, 34 of the nominees are women. Women candidates fielded in at least 12 seats happen to be wives of heavyweight leaders. While former MP Rabindra Jena’s wife Subasini Jena has been nominated from Basta Assembly seat, stalwart Rabi Nanda’s wife is contesting from Jeypore.

Similarly, Paradip MLA Sambit Routray’s wife Gitanjali has replaced him in the seat and so have Angul MLA Rajnikant Singh’s wife Sanjukta Singh, Morada legislator Rajkishore Das’ wife Pritilata Kanungo, Sorada MLA Purnachandra Swain’s wife Sanghamitra Swain, Minister and Bangiriposi MLA Sudam Marndi’s wife Ranjita Marndi, Raghunathpalli MLA Subrat Tarai’s wife Archana Behera, sitting Nabarangpur MLA Sadasiba Pradhani’s wife Kausalya Pradhani.

The party has fielded former MLA Ganeswar Patra’s wife Anusuya Patra in Badasahi, former MLA Dusmanta Nayak’s wife Lalita Nayak in Bhawanipatna, and former legislator Subash Gond’s wife Nanina Nayak in Umerkote.

Wives In Lok Sabha Fray Too

Similar is the scenario for Lok Sabha elections. BJD has fielded wives of influential leaders for several Lok Saha seats. In 2019 elections, the ruling party had nominated women candidates for Koraput, Aska, Keonjhar, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Jagatsinghpur and Sundargarh. This time, the regional party has repeated women candidates in Jajpur, Bhadrak, Jagatsinghpur and Koraput. Heavyweight leader Muktikant Mandal’s wife Manjulata Mandal is again in the fray in Bhadrak Lok Sabha seat, while Pareenita Mishra wife of Sushant Mishra, who switched sides from BJP to BJD, has been given ticket for Bargarh Parliamentary constituency. Similarly, Jhina Hikaka’s wife Kaushalya Hikaka is again contesting Lok Sabha polls as BJD candidate from Koraput.

Daughters Of Heavyweights In Race
Apart from reposing trust on wives of stalwarts, the ruling BJD has also relied on daughters of heavyweight leaders for the upcoming elections. The party has fielded former Minister Anantram Majhi’s daughter Anusuya Majhi from Rayagada Assembly seat. Similarly, former Sanakhemundi MLA Nandini Devi’s daughter Sulakshana Gitanjali Devi has also been given assembly ticket. Ranjita Sahu, daughter of party stalwarts Haraprasad Sahu and Sunitiprabha Sahu, has been fielded from Aska Lok Sabha seat.

Tickets To New Turncoats

The ruling BJD has also given tickets to new entrants and turncoats like Varsha Priyadarshini and Lekhashri Samantsinghar in the name of fielding women candidates. The party has dropped six-time MLA and former Minister Amar Satapathy and given ticket to Varsha, a political novice, for Barchana Assembly seat in Jajpur district. Varsha, who has been in news over the tussle with her ex-husband and actor-turned-politician Anubhav Mohanty, will be fighting her maiden electoral battle.

Similarly, Lekhashri had been a bitter critic of the Naveen Patnaik government for many years during her stint in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). BJD made her the candidate for Balasore Lok Sabha seat after she quit BJP and joined the ruling party. Lekhashri is pitted against her ex-colleague and veteran BJP leader Pratap Chandra Sarangi.

Political observers question the manner in which the ruling BJD went on to ignore so many eligible ticket aspirants just to meet the target of 33 per cent quota for women for Lok Sabha seats. They are of the view that in the name of women empowerment, the ruling party is virtually encouraging family politics by promoting and rehabilitating wives and daughters of party heavyweights.