Surama Padhy Elected Unopposed as 2nd Woman Speaker of Odisha Legislative Assembly

Bhubaneswar: Senior BJP leader and former state minister Surama Padhy was elected unopposed as the Speaker of the Odisha Legislative Assembly on Thursday. She became the second woman to hold this prestigious position. Before her, Pramila Mallik of the BJD was the first woman Speaker of the Odisha Assembly.

Surama Padhy filed her nomination papers for the post of the Speaker on Wednesday in the presence of Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and Deputy Chief Ministers Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo and Pravati Parida.

She was declared as the candidate for the post by the BJP legislature party. She was first elected to the Odisha Assembly from the Ranpur seat in Nayagarh district on a BJP ticket in 2004. She was a minister of state in the BJD-BJP coalition government in Odisha from 2004 to 2009.