Odhisha elections: Women steal show in Naveen Patnaik's first list

BHUBANESWAR: Three women, including a woman self-help group (SHG) member, are set to make their election debut this time with chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday announcing the names of candidates for the first and second phase of the simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly polls.

With the announcement, the BJD chief also kept his promise of keeping 33% seats reserved for women candidates for the parliamentary segment. The names of nine candidates have been announced for the first and second phase of the Lok Sabha election in the state. Of the nine, three are women.

The three faces who managed to get a BJD ticket include 60-year old Pramila Bisoi, who will contest from Aska Lok Sabha (LS) seat; Sunita Biswal, daughter of former chief minister

Hemananda Biswal

will contest from Sundargarh LS segment and Koushalya Hikaka, wife of sitting BJD MP from Koraput

Jhina Hikaka

. Koushalya will contest from the place where her husband had won the last election.

Pramila shot to limelight after spearheading an SHG movement in

Ganjam district

. She is a member of Sata Sankha SHG. "I have been working hard to improve the life and livelihood of the women of the region. In the past 18 years, I have proved that women can do a lot even in remote areas," she told media persons. She was happy to have been chosen to contest from Aska.

Jhina was an MLA from Laxmipur constituency from 2009-2014. He had been abducted by the Maoists in 2012. Considering his popularity, the party wanted to field him as a candidate from the

Koraput

parliamentary segment.

"I am hopeful that Koraput will vote for my wife. During my tenure as an MP, I have enjoyed the rapport of people and completed many developmental works," Jhina said after his wife got the ticket.

Sunita also comes from a political background. She was associated with Congress for the last one decade. She was Congress' working president and helped his father during campaign. "I have joined BJD to fulfill the wish of people. And more importantly, I will contest to win," she said. Sunita had joined BJD just 10 days ago.