BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha Legislative Assembly will continue to remain dominated by men who have accounted for over 92 per cent of the seats in the 2014 polls. An improvement in the number of women members notwithstanding.
With 11 women winning the polls, the share of women has jumped to 7.48 per cent this time. In the 2009 elections, there were just seven women MLAs in the State Assembly.
The 15th State Assembly will have 10 women legislators from Biju Janata Dal while BJP’s Radharani Panda will be the only one from the Opposition camp. Panda defeated BJD’s Anup Sai in Brajrajnagar Assembly seat. Of the ten BJD members, three -- V Sugnana Kumari Deo, Usha Devi and Pramila Mallick -- are old timers. The rest including, Snehangini Chhuria (Attabira), Seemarani Nayak (Hindol), Basanti Mallick (Mohana), Raseswari Panigrahy (Sambalpur), Nandini Devi (Sanakhemundi), Rajashree Mallick (Tirtol) and Tukuni Sahoo (Titlagarh) are fresh faces.
Interestingly, the women members have handed out huge defeats to their rivals in the elections. Seemarani defeated her rival by a massive 50,499 votes while Pramila, Usha Devi and Rajashree won by a margin of over 30,000 votes. Snehangini and Sugnana Kumari won by a margin of over 20,000 votes.
Basanti, however, was the only one to have faced a close contest and won by a slender margin of 115 votes. In fact, it is the lowest margin of win for a candidate in the 2014 elections in the State.
Of them, Sugnana Kumari has been elected for a record 10th time to the Assembly. The 1937 born leader is also the oldest.
Despite an improved representation of women, this is not the best figure. In 2004, there were 12 women MLAs in the State Assembly whereas in 2000, their number was 14. In 1995, the House had ten women members.
According to statistical information available with the State Assembly website, as many as 56 women have been elected to the Odisha Assembly since 1936. As many as 20 of them have been elected on multiple occasions.
