Sofia Firdous Makes History as Odisha’s First Muslim Woman MLA

Image for: Sofia Firdous Makes History as Odisha's First Muslim Woman MLA

📷 Image Credits: India Today

Sofia Firdous, a 32-year-old Congress candidate, recently made history by becoming the first Muslim woman MLA in Odisha. She emerged victorious in the Barabati-Cuttack seat during the Odisha Assembly election results announced on June 4. Firdous, with degrees in management and civil engineering, defeated BJP’s Purna Chandra Mahapatra by a margin of 8,001 votes. Moving onto her background, Sofia Firdous is the daughter of senior Congress leader Mohammed Moquim, who previously held the MLA position for the same seat before facing disqualification due to a corruption case conviction. Following this, the Congress party decided to field Firdous in the election. Prior to her political endeavor, Firdous worked as a director at her father’s company, Metro Builders, and was involved with the Bhubaneswar unit of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI). According to her poll affidavit, she has no criminal charges against her and her assets amount to roughly Rs 5 crore with liabilities of about Rs 28 lakhs. In the 2019 assembly election, Firdous’s father won the Barabati-Cuttack seat, but later faced conviction in a corruption case, leading to his disqualification. In the recent 2024 Assembly election, the BJP clinched victory in Odisha by securing 78 out of the 147 constituencies, ending the 24-year reign of the BJD government led by Naveen Patnaik.