An engineer by profession, she was elected as the first Muslim woman MLA in Odisha after independence; Who is Sofia Firdous? | Live Updates, Unveiling the Latest India News Trends

Sophia Firdaus: Congress MLA from Odisha's Barabati-Cuttack seat Sofia Firdous has written her name in the pages of history. She is the first Muslim woman MLA to be elected to the Odisha Assembly after independence. Sofia is the daughter of current MLA Mohammad Mokim. In this election, Congress candidate Sofia defeated BJP's famous gynecologist Purna Chandra Mohapatra by 8 thousand votes. Sofia Firdous has won this seat from Congress after 52 years. At the same time, in this assembly election, Sofia got 53,197 votes, while BJP's famous doctor Purna Chandra Mohapatra got 45,223 votes. BJD's Prakash Behera remained at third place with 39,934 votes.

Know who is Sophia Firdaus?

32-year-old Sofia Firdous hails from a political family. Sofia is the daughter of senior Congress leader Mohammad Mokim. In the 2024 Odisha Assembly elections, the Congress party had fielded Sofia Firdous in place of Mokim. Sofia is a civil engineer by profession and a director of a real estate firm. She also completed the Executive General Management Program from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore in 2022. Sofia was elected as the president of the Bhubaneswar chapter of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India in 2023. Sofia is married to businessman Sheikh Meraj Ul Haq.

The goodwill and cooperation of the people of Cuttack is our biggest resource. Based on that resource, our journey of struggle and determination. pic.twitter.com/b7Wl9KHiRW

— Sophia Firdous (@sofiafirdous1) May 23, 2024

Sophia took active part in social work

Sofia Firdous has always been an active participant in social programs. She has also helped her father in election campaigns several times. After the Supreme Court refused to stay Moqim's sentence in the loan fraud case, the Congress made Sofia the candidate from this seat.

Sofia follows in the footsteps of Odisha's first chief minister

Sophia Firdous follows in the footsteps of Nandini Satpathy, the first woman chief minister of Odisha, who represented the same assembly constituency in 1972. In the 2024 Odisha Assembly elections, the BJP won 78 out of 147 seats and ended the 24-year rule of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and the Biju Janata Dal in the state.