Every 3rd candidate from BJD will be a woman: Naveen Patnaik

BHUBANESWAR: Four-time Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, known to be popular with women voters, said on Sunday that every third BJD candidate for the Lok Sabha 2019 will be a woman.

Addressing a crowd of more than a lakh women in Kendrapara –– his father’s old constituency –– he said, “I would like to announce here at Kendrapara, the ‘karma bhumi’ of legendary Biju Babu, that Odisha will send 33% women to parliament in the coming elections.”

The announcement comes amid rumours of a massive change in candidacy in the party which aims to return to power for a record fifth consecutive term. State polls are to be held simultaneously with the four-phase schedule announced for Odisha from April 11-29.


In 2014, Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal won 20 of Odisha’s 21 Lok Sabha constituencies; two among them were won by women. In 2019, it will field at least seven women.

Patnaik’s father, the late CM Biju Patnaik, had introduced 33% reservation for women in the three-tier panchayati raj institutions. In 2012, Patnaik’s then government increased this quota to 50% for both panchayat and urban local bodies. BJD minister Usha Devi described the announcement as “a very constructive one that took Biju babu’s and the BJD’s legacy forward.”

“If India is to lead the world, if India is to be an advanced nation like America and China, then women empowerment is the only answer...I call upon national parties that they should be true to their words, and follow what they are propagating for women empowerment,” he said. The BJD has not, however, committed to reserving seats for women in the assembly. The Odisha assembly, where BJD holds more than a comfortable majority, passed a resolution for Parliament to enact a law reserving a third of LS seats for women last November.

The BJP dismissed Patnaik’s prepoll announcement as “lip service”. Addressing a press conference in Bhubaneswar, party national spokesperson Sambit Patra asked why Patnaik wasn’t making a similar promise for the assembly. “This is just to distract from the increased atrocities against women and is hypocritical and rhetorical. He (Patnaik) had the numbers to pass such a reservation for the Odisha assembly.”