Senior BJP leader and former minister Surama Padhy on Wednesday filed the nomination papers for Odisha Assembly Speaker’s post in presence of Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and two Deputy Chief Ministers — KV 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 Chief Minister of Odisha along with his two deputies and council of ministers.
Sixtyfour-year-old Padhy, who is poised to become the Speaker of 17th Assembly, was not inducted to the Mohan Majhi Government. It had led to the speculation that the BJP had finalised Padhy for the Speaker post on the basis of her seniority and administrative experience.
The elections for the post, if required, are scheduled to take place on 20 June 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.
Analysts are of the belief that the Opposition (BJD, Congress) may not field a candidate for the Speaker’s post as it does not have the numbers.
The BJD legislature party is meeting later today to select the Leader of Opposition, Deputy Leader and chief whip. If the party insiders are to be believed, BJD president Naveen Patnaik is likely to hold the Leader of Opposition post.