Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday, June 4, swept a majority of votes from the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in the Assembly elections held in the state between May 13 and June 1. The party won 78 of 147 constituencies dislodging Navin Patnaik from power in the state after his 24-year rule. Besides the BJP, a Muslim woman contender also created history in the Assembly elections by winning the Cuttak seat to become the first woman Muslim MLA in the history of Odisha since Independence.
Sofia Firdous won the Barabati-Cuttack seat with a margin of 8001 after a neck-to-neck contest with BJP’s Purna Chandra Mahapatra. Firdous replaced her father and sitting MLA Mohammed Moquim from the seat.
In the Lok Sabha elections across the country, at least 15 Muslim candidates successfully secured seats in the lower house. The list includes TMC nominee and former India cricketer Yusuf Pathan who secured a comfortable victory over Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury in the Congress veteran’s Baharampur bastion.
