Bhubaneswar: In voting seven women to Parliament, voters in Odisha have scripted a unique record — sending exactly 33 per cent of the women to Lok Sabha.
Five of the women leaders elected are from BJD and the rest two are from BJP. This represents exactly 33 per cent out of the 21 seats.
Reserving 33 per cent of the Lok Sabha seats for women has been a long-standing demand for several political parties including BJD. But even as a consensus continues to elude the parties, voters in the state have taken the lead to make this happen.
The elected new women MPs are:
1. Pramila Bisoyi: This BJD candidate defeated BJP’s Anita Subhadarshini by a margin of 2,04,707 votes.
2. Manjulata Mandal: The BJD’s candidate defeated BJP’s Avimanyu Sethi from the Bhadrakh parliamentary constituency by a margin of 28,803 votes.
3. Sangeeta Kumari Singhdeo: The BJP candidate from the Balangir royal family wrested this seat from the BJD by defeating another royal scion, Kalikesh Singhdeo, by a margin of 19,516 votes.
4. Aparajita Sarangi: The BJP candidate defeated former Mumbai police chief Arup Patnaik from the Bhubaneswar seat by a margin of 23,839 votes. He contested on a BJD ticket.
5. Rajashree Mallick: The BJD candidate defeated BJP’s Bibhu Prasad Tarai by a margin of 2.71 lakh voters to wrest the Jagatsinghpur seat.
6. Sarmistha Sethi: The BJD candidate defeated BJP’s Amiya Kant Mallick by a margin of 1.01 lakh votes.
7. Chandrani Murmu: The BJD candidate won this seat by defeating BJP nominee Ananta Nayak by a margin of 66,203 votes.
