BHUBANESWAR: Former minister and senior BJP leader Surama Padhy on Wednesday filed the nomination papers for the post of Speaker of Odisha Legislative Assembly in presence of chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi and two Deputy Chief Ministers — Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo and Pravati Parida.
The BJP legislature party earlier announced Padhy’s candidacy for the constitutional post, a week after four-time MLA Mohan Charan Majhi was sworn-in as the 16th CM of Odisha along with his two deputies and council of ministers.
Padhy, 64, is poised to become the Speaker of 17th Assembly.
The elections for the post, if required, are scheduled to take place on June 20 after the oath-taking ceremony of the members of the House.
Padhy, if elected, will be the second woman after Pramila Mallik to hold the Speaker post.
After three successive electoral defeats, Padhy emerged victorious from the Ranpur assembly constituency in 2024 Assembly polls by defeating her nearest BJD rival Satyanarayan Pradhan by a comfortable margin of 15,544 votes. She was a minister of state for cooperation with independent charge in the BJD-BJP alliance government in 2004. The Kandhamal riots had led the BJD to sever ties with the BJP and the regional party went alone in fighting polls in 2009, 2014 and 2019, registering impressive victories.
