Cong set to field Sofia Firdous from Barabati-Cuttack Assembly seat in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The Congress party is all set to field MLA Mohammed Moquim’s daughter Sofia Firdous from Barabati-Cuttack seat for the upcoming Assembly polls in Odisha.

“We have held discussions with the Congress workers from Barabati-Cuttack Assembly seat. A consensus has been built for candidature of Moquim’s daughter Sofia Firdous. The Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) has recommended Sofia’s name to the All India Congress Committee (AICC),” said party’s Odisha in-charge Ajoy Kumar today.

The Congress party has already declared its candidates for 139 of the 147 Assembly seats in Odisha for the upcoming polls. The party will announce the candidates for the remaining eight seats within three/four days, he added.

Sofia (32), a civil engineer by training, is the director of a real estate firm. She was elected as the president of CREDAI, Bhubaneswar chapter, last year.

Notably, Moquim had won the Assembly polls from Barabati-Cuttack seat on a Congress ticket in 2019.

A special Vigilance court had awarded three years’ imprisonment to Moquim in a loan fraud case on September 29, 2022.

The Congress leader had challenged the trial court order in the Orissa High Court. However, the HC dismissed his plea.

Subsequently, Moquim approached the Supreme Court (SC) seeking stay on his conviction in the Odisha Rural Housing Development Corporation (ORHDC) loan fraud case.

The apex court suspended the Congress leader’s sentence but did not stay his conviction.

As per Representation of People Act, legislators facing jail term of two years or more are barred from contesting the elections for next six years.