Odisha’s 1st Muslim Woman MLA Sofia Firdous's Rich Profile Makes Wave
Newly elected Congress MLA in Odisha, Sofia Firdous, is making headlines after winning the recently concluded Assembly Elections from the Barabati-Cuttack seat to become first ever Muslim woman MLA of the state
Cuttack: Newly elected Congress MLA in Odisha, Sofia Firdous, is making headlines after winning the recently concluded Assembly Elections from the Barabati-Cuttack seat to become first ever Muslim woman MLA of the state.
Family Background
Sofia Firdous is the daughter of senior Odisha Congress leader and former MLA Mohammed Moquim.
Mohammed Moquim was the MLA from the Barabati-Cuttack assembly constituency won in 2024 state elections by his daughter.
The Congress Party decided to field Firdous from the seat after her father was disqualified following his conviction in a corruption case.
The story does not end here.
What is fascinating the poll watchers beyond Sofia Firdous’s history-making victory is her profile, especially her qualification.
Academic and Career Profile
The 32-year-old Firdous is a Civil Engineering graduate from the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology under KIIT University in Bhubaneswar.
She also completed an Executive General Management Program from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B).
Firdous is also Director of her father’s construction company Metro Builders. She is a member of the Bhubaneswar unit of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India (CREDAI).In 2023, she was elected as the CREDAI Bhubaneswar Chapter President.
Firdous is also Co-Chair of the Bhubaneswar Chapter of the CII - Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) and a core member of INWEC India.
Her husband Sheikh Meraj Ul Haque is an entrepreneur.
Women MLAs in Odisha
Sofia Firdous polled a total of 53,339 votes to defeat her nearest rival of the BJP Purna Chandra Mahapatar who got 45,338 votes – 8,001 short of his Congress rival.
Sofia Firdous however will have to sit in the house on opposition benches as the BJP ended as the single largest party winning 78 of the total 147 seats in the Odisha Assembly.
The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) won 51 seats, the Congress won 14, CPI (M) 01 seat while others won 03 seats.
The newly elected Assembly seat will have a total of 11 woman members. Since 1937, a total of 141 women served as the Member of Legislative Assembly in Odiasha. Of them, Firdous is the only Muslim woman.
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