Minister Pramila Mallick set to be Odisha’s first woman speaker

Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Pramila Mallick is set to be the first woman speaker of the Odisha Legislative Assembly. The BJD on Wednesday announced Mallick as the party’s candidate for the post. A six-time MLA from Binjharpur in Jajpur district will file her nomination papers on Thursday. Election to the post will be held on Friday.

There will be no contest for the post as BJP has decided not to field a candidate and Congress does not have the numbers. While BJD has 113 members in a house of 147, BJP and Congress have 22 and nine members respectively.

The post of speaker has been lying vacant for more than four months after the resignation of Bikram Keshari Arukha who was appointed as Finance minister in the last reshuffle of the cabinet by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. Expressing her happiness over her nomination, Mallick said she would conduct house proceedings impartially.

Mallik has wide administrative experience as she served as the Women and Child Development Minister for seven years from 2004 to 2011. She was also the government chief whip for three years from May 30, 2019, to June 6, 2022. She made her debut in the Assembly as a Janata Dal MLA from Binjharpur in 1990. However, after joining BJD, she won five consecutive times from the constituency.

Earlier, the election was scheduled to be held on September 21 and the filing of nominations on September 18. After BJP and Congress announced to boycott of the election as it coincided with Nuakhai, the election was shifted to September 22 and the filing of nominations to September 21.