Bhubaneswar: Senior BJP Lawmaker and former Minister Surama Padhy is all set to become new Speaker of the State Legislative Assembly after filing nomination for the post today.
The name of Surama Padhy was first finalized at the BJP Legislature Party meeting and then, Padhy has filed her nomination paper for the election of Speaker before the Assembly Secretary here in presence of Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, Deputy Chief Ministers K V Singh Deo and Pravati Parida and other BJP MLAs.
Today is the day for submission of nominations for the post of Assembly Speaker. No other candidate has filed nomination for the Speaker election, said Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mukesh Mahaling.
“Our Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi has telephoned former CM and MLA Naveen Patnaik to seek his support for the Speaker election. Patnaik has also agreed to the Chief Minister,” Dr.Mahaling said.
As the nomination process has been completed, Shrimati Padhy is all set to become the new Speaker of the House. After being elected, Surama, the Ranapur MLA, will become the second woman Speaker of the State Assembly after Pramila Mallik.
After three successive defeats, Surama emerged as winning from Ranpur Assembly seat in the recently-concluded elections. She defeated Satyanarayan Pradhan of BJD by a margin of 15,544 votes.
Shrimati Padhy was first elected to the State Assembly in 2004 and served as Cooperation Minister from 2004 to 2009 under the BJP-BJD alliance government.
She is an advocate in profession, joined the BJP in 1988. She was the national executive member of the BJP and also served as Chairperson, Odisha State Cashew Development Corporation Ltd.