Odisha witnessed a big political shocker on March 16 during the ongoing Rajya Sabha elections when three Congress Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) voted in favour of BJP-supported independent canidate Dilip Ray, ignoring party whip.
The cross-voting led to the defeat of joint Congress-BJD candidate Dr Datteshwar Hota, putting BJP numbers for Rajya Sabha berth same as the opposition in the state.
Congress party, taken aback by the development, has suspended all the three MLAs which cross voted in the RS polls.
One of the three MLAs, Sofia Firdous has since been trending in the news.
Who Is Sofia Firdous?
An MLA from Barabati-Cuttack, Sophia Firdous is the daughter of famous real estate businessman and former Congress MLA from the same constituency Mohammad Mokim.
A leading businessman of the state, Mokim is the founder and managing director of Metro Group, a real-estate giant in the state.
Sofia holds a B.Tech degree from the Kalinga Institute of Technology in civil engineering and had earlier served as a director in his father’s business group.
Firdous won the Barabati-Cuttack seat in 2014, defeating BJP’s PC Mahapatra.
Mokim was barred from contesting elections after a court ruling in a fraud case.
Subsequently, the Congress fielded his daughter, Sophia Firdous, who went on to become the first Muslim woman elected to the Odisha Assembly.
Business Leader Turned Politician, Husband An Entrepreneur
In 2023, Sophia Firdous was appointed president of the Bhubaneswar chapter of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI).
She also serves as the East Zone Coordinator for CREDAI’s women’s wing and is a core member of INWEC India. She is married to entrepreneur Sheikh Meraj Ul Haq.
Now Expelled From Party
Sophia Firdous has been suspended from the Congress party after cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha elections.
Odisha Congress president Bhakt Charan Das expressed strong displeasure over the incident, saying that all three rebel MLAs have been expelled and that the party’s top leadership has been informed.
Das said the cross-voting came as a surprise and added that the rebel MLAs would not be allowed to sit with other Congress MLAs in the Assembly.
