Sofia Firdous, Upasana Mohapatra & Other Debut Winners Of Odisha Assembly Polls

Bhubaneswar: First-timers Sofia Firdous of Congress and Upasana Mohapatra of BJP have won the 2024 Assembly elections from Barabati-Cuttack and Brahmagiri in Odisha, respectively.

Sofia, daughter of the sitting MLA Mohammed Moquim, retained the seat for Congress by defeating noted gynaecologist Purna Chandra Mahapatra of BJP by 8,001 votes.

Congress nominated Sofia from the seat after the Supreme Court refused to stay Moquim’s conviction in a loan fraud case. The 32-year-old is a civil engineer and director of a real estate firm. She was elected as president of CREDIA, Bhubaneswar chapter, last year.

Upasana, daughter of former Congress MLA late Lalatendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra Upasana, defeated BJD’s Umakanta Samantaray, who is the sitting MLA from Satyabadi, by 9,830 votes in the coastal seat under Puri parliamentary constituency.

Another newbie Durga Prasan Nayak, BJP candidate from Mahakalpada Assembly, defeated BJD heavyweight and minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak by a margin of over 33,000 votes.

Among other newcomers is Sitansu Sekhar Mohapatra, who contested from Bhadrak Assembly segment as BJP candidate and defeated BJD veteran Prafulla Samal by a margin of 16,000 votes.

Similarly, Sunil Kumar Mohanty of BJD won a tough battle against sitting BJP MLA from Puri Jayanta Kumar Sarangi by a margin of 5,178 votes, while Goutam Budhha Das, who contested for the first time from Bhograi Assembly seat, won by defeating his nearest rival Satya Shiba Das of Congress by 6,564 votes.

Bijoy Mohapatra’s son Arvind is another newcomer tasted victory in Patkura Assembly segment on a BJD ticket by defeating BJP’s Tejeswar Parida by over 11,000 votes.

Amarendra Das of BJP also emerged victorious in Jagatsinghpur Assembly segment by defeating BJD’s Prasanta Kumar Muduli by a margin of 22,138 votes.

However, Sulakshana Geetanjali Devi (28), daughter of the former BJD MLA Nandini Devi, lost the Sanakhemundi assembly constituency to sitting legislator Ramesh Chandra Jena of Congress by 10,662 votes. Nandini Devi had won the seat in 2014 elections.

Similarly, Lipika, daughter of former Congress MLA Bhujbal Majhi and a doctor by profession, lost in Dabugam to BJD’s sitting MLA Manohar Randhari by 21,455 votes.

Srirup Deb of BJD also lost in Chikiti Assembly segment, which his mother Usha Devi had been winning for five consecutive terms since 2000. He was defeated by BJP’s Manoranjan Dyan Samantaray by 6,465 votes.

The wife of the royal scion of Angul, Sanjukta Singh, who also made her electoral debut on BJD ticket, lost to Pratap Chandra Pradhan of BJP by 17,433 votes. Her husband Rajanikant Singh is the sitting MLA from the same seat.