BJD to field Pramila Mallik for Assembly Speaker post

Bhubaneswar: Odisha's Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Pramila Mallik will be the Biju Janata Dal candidate for Assembly Speaker's post.

Mallik will file papers for the coveted post which has been lying vacant since the resignation of Bikram Keshari Arukha in May. The election will be held at 9.30 am on September 22.

Earlier, the Speaker's election was scheduled on September 21 and filing of nomination on September 18. However, after Opposition BJP and Congress announced to boycott the election as it coincided with Nuakhai, the mass agrarian festival of western Odisha, it was shifted to September 22 and filing of nomination to September 21.

Though Mallik, elected from Binjharpur reserved seat (SC), was yet to resign from her present post as a Cabinet minister, she said, ''I am indebted to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for considering me for the post of Speaker. After election, I will be Odisha's first Woman Speaker.''

Mallik, the six-time MLA from Binjharpur in Jajpur district, won five successive elections since 2000 as a BJD candidate. In 1990, she was elected on a Janata Dal ticket. Mallik has held several key posts during her political career. She also worked as the Government Chief Whip in the Assembly.