NewsPhotos Sofia Firdous: Meet Odisha's First Muslim Woman MLA; Check Educational Qualification, Age, Salary, Other Details

Sofia Firdous: Meet Odisha's First Muslim Woman MLA; Check Educational Qualification, Age, Salary, Other Details

Sofia Firdous, a 32-year-old Congress member, has made history as the first Muslim woman elected as an MLA in Odisha. She won the Barabati-Cuttack seat, defeating BJP candidate and renowned gynecologist Dr. Purna Chandra Mahapatra, 69, by a margin of 8,001 votes. Although 141 women have served as MLAs in Odisha since 1937, no Muslim woman had ever won an assembly seat until Sofia, daughter of former Barabati-Cuttack MLA Mohammed Moquim, broke this barrier.

Zee Media Bureau|

Updated:Jul 03, 2024, 03:51 PM IST

First Muslim Woman MLA

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Sofia recognizes the importance of her victory as a Muslim woman but highlights the broader issue of low female representation in the assembly, with only 11 women among 147 MLAs this term.

IIM Alumna

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An alumna of IIM Bangalore, Sofia Firdous is the director of a real estate company and serves as the president of the Bhubaneswar chapter of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI), marking the first time a woman has held this position.

Educational Qualification, Assets

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With declared assets worth Rs 3.64 crore, Sofia transitioned to the real estate sector at 24 after earning her BTech in civil engineering from KIIT University.

Sofia Firdous Age, Family Background

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Sofia Firdous, 32, hails from a political family and is the daughter of senior Congress leader Mohammed Moquim. In the 2024 Odisha Assembly elections, the party replaced Moquim with Firdous, who went on to secure a victorious outcome.

Barabati-Cuttack Seat Women Leaders

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Sofia Firdous follows in the footsteps of Nandini Satpathy, Odisha's first woman chief minister, who represented the same constituency - Barabati-Cuttack seat- in 1972.

Sofia Firdous Salary

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Odisha MLAs get Rs 1 lakh salary per month. Of this, they get Rs 35,000 as salary, Rs 65,000 for different allowances. The Odisha Assembly MLAs get daily allowances of Rs 1,500 per day when the Assembly is in session and Rs 2,000 per day when they visit outside the state.