BJD to field 33 per cent women candidates for LS: Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik

KENDRAPARA: In what could be called a historic move, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday announced that one-third of Biju Janata Dal candidates for Parliamentary constituencies would be women in the upcoming General Elections.

Hours before Election Commission of India notified elections, the Chief Minister told a massive Mission Shakti convention at Kendrapara’s Baro village that Odisha will send 33 per cent women to Parliamant in the coming elections. “This announcement at Kendrapara, the sacred land of Lord Baladevjew, will create history in the journey of women empowerment in India,” Naveen told the gathering.

Cheered by a large number of women, Naveen, who has been strongly pitching in for 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and State Assemblies, said this decision will also have a far-reaching impact on women’s empowerment. The women of Odisha will lead the way in women empowerment in India. “If India is to be an advanced nation like the US and China, women empowerment is the only answer,” he said. 

He also called upon all the national parties to be true to their words and follow what they are propagating for women empowerment. While he promised 33 per cent reservation to women in the Lok Sabha elections, Naveen did not promise any for women candidates for the Assembly elections.

Invoking the memories of his father, Naveen said Biju Babu had an emotional relationship with people of Kendrapara where people elected the legendary leader many times. “Biju loved Kendrapara for which I need your blessings,” he said. It was his father Biju Patnaik who had in 1990 implemented 33 per cent reservation for women in the three-tier Panchayat Raj institutions in India.

In 2012, Naveen enhanced the reservation from 33 per cent to 50 per cent in the panchayat elections and urban bodies.Earlier last year, the State Government passed a resolution in State Assembly to provide 33 per cent reservation to women in both Parliament and State legislature.

Naveen also sent a proposal to all the national parties and chief ministers in this regard.Reacting to the decision, BJP district unit president Dyurodhan Sahoo described the announcement as lip-service to the problems of women. To create a women’s vote  bank, the Chief Minister has announced to provide 33 per cent to the women candidates in Lok Sabha, he said.

BJD  leader and Kendrapara MLA Kishor Tarei said there was nothing political about it as the Chief Minister sincerely wants women to be empowered and this is a move in that direction. “The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women (UN Women) had last month lauded the Chief Minister for the women’s reservation proposal,” he added.