Will Md Moquim’s Daughter Sofia Firdous Contest From Cuttack-Barabati Seat?

Cuttack: With Supreme Court refusing to stay the conviction of Cuttack-Barabati MLA Md Moquim in loan fraud case, the Congress is contemplating fielding his daughter, Sofia Firdous, from the seat in the upcoming polls in Odisha, sources said on Wednesday.

Though the apex court suspended the sentence of imprisonment of senior Congress leader in the Odisha Rural Housing and Development Corporation Limited (ORHDC) loan irregularities case, it did not stay his conviction, dashing his hopes of contesting the Assembly polls next month.

Following this development, Congress leaders, corporators, workers and other office bearers attended a crucial meeting to finalise the strategy at Moquim’s residence here. “I won’t be able to contest the elections as per the SC verdict. Accordingly, a discussion was held to pick possible candidates for the seat and we hope to reach a consensus by evening. A proposal will then be sent to the AICC,” he said.

Also Read: SC Suspends Odisha Congress MLA Md Moquim’s Sentence In Loan Fraud Case

He, however, refrained from naming his daughter as a ticket aspirant. “It won’t be appropriate on my part to comment on the her candidature since we have had only first phase discussion on the issue. I have also not spoken to her about it,” he said, while exuding confidence the party will repeat its feat from the seat again.

Senior Congress leader Giribala Behera, however, said that a consensus has been reached over Sofia Firdous’ candidature for Cuttack-Barabati. “Everyone present at the meeting unanimously supported her candidature. She is an engineer and an entrepreneur. She has been actively involved in her father’s work in the constituency and has established herself as an individual. She too has accepted the proposal after initial reluctance,” she said.

Behera further said that Sofia had created a good impression in public while campaigning in 2014 and 2019 elections and people of Cuttack will accept her as their representative. “She will be attending a meeting at 5 pm in the presence of Cuttack Barabati Congress leaders and workers,” she added.

Notably, Moquim had managed to win the Cuttack-Barabati seat by defeating BJD’s Debashish Samantaray because of his organisational strength in 2019 Assembly elections when Congress faced drubbing and could bag on only 9 of the 147 seats.