Bhubaneswar, April 17: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik  is going to play Women’s Card in the upcoming election once again in order to clinch a thumping victory for his sixth innings. At a time when the Centre has a statutory provision of reserving 33 percent seats for women in jobs and appointments, Odisha Chief Minister has been making it an electoral gimmick to win the elections with an absolute majority. Among other fabulous steps on women empowerment,he is reserving as much seats as he can, for the grooming women leaderships, to field them contest the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

Get Latest Updates on Election 2024 Stay Updated with us.

In the 2019 election, Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal President Naveen Patnaik had asserted to nominate at least 33% women for the Lok Sabha. The party is also going to keep it up this time and almost ready for fielding women candidates from 33% Lok Sabha seats. In order to boost women’s active participation in governance, the party has fielded Indira Nanda, wife of former minister Rabi Narayan Nanda, from Jeypore Assembly Segment.

The BJD replaced sitting Angul MLA Rajani Kant Singh the son of Adwaita Prasad Singh who was one of the close associates of Biju Patnaik, has been replaced with his spouse Sanjukta Singh on Wednesday.

Sulakhana Gitanjali Devi will be taking the political legacy of the Royal Family of Dharakote forward in Sankhemundi Assembly constituency. She is the daughter of Dharakote queen Nandini Devi, who had won the seat in 2014 but lost to Ramesh Jena of Congress five years later. She has been declared as the party face for the Sanakhemundi Assembly segment  today.

Also Read: Odisha: BJD set to rope in Ollywood stars for campaigning

Less than 24 hours of joining the BJD, Sambalpur BJP MP Nitesh Ganga Deb’s wife Arundhati Devi was rewarded with Deogarh Assembly seat. Arundhati Devi is the fourth party hopper on the list to have earned a nomination in a short interval.

Similarly the BJD has repeated Barsha Singh Bariha from Padampur, from where she had registered an emphatic win in the December 2023 bypoll necessitated by the death of her father and sitting MLA Bijay Ranjan Singh Bariha.

Similarly, Laxmipriya Naik, who was the Congress candidate from Chitrakonda in 2019 polls, is going to contest the upcoming Assembly polls from the same seat on BJD ticket.

Also Read: Young politicians in Odisha prepare to inherit legacy

Among the nine seats, recently declared, the BJD is almost set for increased women’s representation in electoral politics, has nominated female candidates in six, taking the total to 26 in 126 Assembly constituencies announced so far.

Worth mentioning, in the 2019 election, 20 out of 147 candidates were women and 12 among them had emerged victorious beating potential candidates from the oppositions, the Prime competitor Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the back-bencher National Congress.

Also Read: Balasore LS: triangular fight between veterans and fresh face

Political analysts assess that, fielding more women candidates in Assembly and Lok Sabha election in Odisha in the forthcoming election will yield more benefits for the BJD. The Women strategy of Naveen will play a significant role in the simultaneous election, to fetch abundance women votes in favour of the BJD. Women leaders picked from Social activists and Frontline SHG backgrounds, will garner the fullest support from the Women self help group members and other women outfits.