Sophia Firdaus, who was born in 1992, has become the first Muslim woman MLA in the history of Odisha. She won on a Congress ticket from the Barabati-Cuttack Assembly constituency.
Since she has pulled off a first in the history of Odisha, she has attracted national attention. She successfully defeated Purna Chandra Mahapatra of the BJP by a margin of 8,001 votes at a time when there was a BJP wave in the State.
However, her ascendancy is fraught with political expediency exhibited by the Congress. She is the daughter of former Congress MLA Md. Moquim, who was disqualified from contesting and so, the party gave his daughter the ticket. "Giving an incumbent MLA's daughter the seat because he is disqualified to contest can very well be the Congress model of women empowerment.
It’s a proven model," wrote columnist Pratyasha Rath with sarcasm.
Sophia has been described as a product of the culture of nepotism in politics.
https://x.com/mr_mayank/status/1798262276946092239
