The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has chosen Pramila Mallik, Odisha’s Revenue and Disaster Management Minister, as their candidate for the Assembly Speaker’s post. Mallik will be filing her papers for the position, which has been vacant since Bikram Keshari Arukha resigned in May. The election is scheduled to take place at 9:30 am on September 22.
Initially, the Speaker’s election was supposed to happen on September 21, with the nomination filing taking place on September 18. However, due to the boycott of the election by the BJP and Congress, who cited the coinciding date with the Nuakhai festival, a major agrarian festival in western Odisha, the dates were shifted. The election will now be held on September 22, and nomination filing will be on September 21.
Mallik expressed her gratitude towards Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for considering her for the Speaker’s post. If elected, she will become Odisha’s first woman Speaker.
